


The Sun is Coming up Someday

by Mariavc



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Zombie Apocalypse, Character Death, F/M, Road Trips, Set somewhere between S2 and the beginning of S3, Skyeward smut, There are some bloody and gory descriptions, Time Jump, Violence, bed sharing, but we don't actually read it I suppose, it's winter, mentions of a lot of character deaths, mostly because you know ZOMBIES, of course it gets porny you know me, staying at abandoned places, the zombie au that I always needed
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-12
Updated: 2017-08-03
Packaged: 2018-12-01 03:07:59
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 8
Words: 31,578
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11477349
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mariavc/pseuds/Mariavc
Summary: Set somewhere between S2 and the beginning of S3. It's been about a year. The impossible happened. Life was ended by the dead coming back and Daisy's life collapsed. She lost everything and... almost everyone; but even though she has one last mission she's injured, alone and without enough resources to finish it. She's ready to give up just when something even worse happens: In her mind he was dead even before the outbreak, he was out of her life; but now a living, breathing Grant Ward is back, and she doesn't know that he might be just what she needed.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hello!!! I'm back :D So, this one is very special for me because I always... ALWAYS wanted a zombie apocalypse AU. I freaking love zombie stories, and what's better than an apocalyptic world with two of the most badass characters that ever lived? I'm also bringing a lot of things that I always wanted to write about. You have NO IDEA how much research went into this thing, especially for the road trip parts... Yes. We're going on a road trip.
> 
> I'm sorry in advance because there's a bit of a shocking part at the end.... whoopsie hahaha I hope you enjoy...
> 
> This one will be about 7-10 chapters, I have a few ideas to make it to 10 but I want to see if you like it first hahaha.
> 
> And If you know me you know that there's going to be porn, so there's that.

Someone said once that she was a survivor.

What a fucking curse.

She’s still here, living through the apocalypse.

_Surviving._

Coulson said that she had a chance at making a difference that they didn’t. It was like they all decided that her life was more important than theirs for some reason.

Most of the time she fought with them in her mind. The team. If she died, everything they did would have been for nothing.

On the other hand, it’s not like they’ll ever know that.

Tonight she might finally get what she deserves though. She’s just so damn tired. It got dark before she could find some place safe enough to spend the night and she knows that she only has 7 bullets and a rifle magazine left. She can’t keep using her powers and with little food and water she will definitely won’t make her to her destination.

An abandoned parking lot is the best thing that she could find.

She strokes her left arm as she climbs the stairs all the way to the last floor in the building. There are a few abandoned cars. She’ll just have to find one that she can open without breaking a window.

This was something she picked up before shield. Life back then doesn’t seem so bad right now.

She sits in the back seat, setting her guns and backpack close to her reach and leans back in the chair of the SUV.

The silence can drive one crazy.

She used to listen to a radio, but all communications have been long dead and if there are more people out there, like her, she doubts they’re trying to tap into some radio frequencies at this point.

It’s starting to get cold as the winter approaches. Just another reason why she definitely can’t make it further to the North. The idea of seeing Fitz and Simmons again actually got her here, but as the time passes that hope is just vanishing. It’s been months, and they could be dead like everyone else.

Daisy sighs. She squeezes her forearm with a grunt of pain. That’s when she starts sobbing, like most nights before sleep finally claims her.

 

* * *

 

She opens her eyes when she feels it. It’s so much easier now that the world has gone quiet. The ones that turned recently are the most dangerous. Their senses are heightened. They’re stronger, and faster and extremely hard to kill.

“Fuck” She grabs her gun, but here she’s cornered. She can’t risk to attract unwanted attention with a gunshot. If it’s just one she’ll have to try to take him down with her knife, or just hope that _it_ doesn’t find her.

Daisy tries to see where the sound is coming from. She sees three of them and they seem like they’re heading straight for her car.

“No, no, no, no…”

She gets out of the car as quietly as she can, crouching down out of their view.

The next step is going to hurt.

A small quake is enough to crack the nearest car windows and distract them.

When they turn and move to the other car she quickly follows them. The first one goes easy enough. She grabs its hair and sticks her knife under its jaw and all the way up. It’s heavy, but she does her best to lay it down on the floor without making a lot of sound.

But before she can kill the second one she hears more coming, from the sides, directly at her.

“Damn it” She hesitates for a second but finally decides to run back to the SUV. They usually come in large groups, and at least a 5 of them are fast enough to be dangerous.

Daisy locks herself inside the car, still trying to catch her breath and holding her gun close to her chest as she feels the pain in her arm coming back. She swallows. She’s afraid.

She should be ready to die, but the truth is that she isn’t. No one really wants to be eaten alive. She’s terrified of the pain, she’s also afraid to die here, alone, where no one will hear her screaming.

Maybe it comes down to the fact that she’s a coward. It makes sense. She should have given up a long time ago… when Fitzsimmons left, or when the base fell. Her arms hurt like hell. She remembers them screaming. Her bones are about to shatter, and she couldn’t save them with all her power. Her last two friends could be needing her right now, but she’s so far away and unable to reach them.

She jumps when the dead start banging against the car, trying to get to her. It’s horrifying. The sounds they make; the way their lifeless eyes stare at her while they almost break apart rotten limbs of their corpses as the hunger takes over.

That’s it. She’s going to die.

She could try to quake them, break her bones and, even though injured, live another day, but what’s the point? It’s going to happen sooner or later.

But just when the window is about to break she hears the roaring of an engine. A car honking loudly, attracting the attention of the dead. They don’t think. They just hunt and eat and run when they see lights or hear any sound. So, naturally, they forget about her and turn around.

She looks out the window. At this point there are, at least, a dozen of them and counting. Because whoever that idiot is, he’s just attracting more of them.

Not that he’s not prepared though. He’s driving a heavily armored truck, the windows and panels are covered by thick, metallic plates with small slits for the driver to see through. The whole car looks out of some mad max movie.

That isn’t that far from their actual reality when she thinks about it.

The driver waits for the zombies to approach him and just runs over them, cuts through them like a hot knife through butter until none of them are left standing… or at least in one piece.

“What the…” Daisy mutters as she watches the slaughter. She can’t really be sure if a guy with a car like that, doing all of this, is someone that she can trust.

So she decides to run.

But before she can make it too far someone yells.

“Skye!”

She stops in her tracks, almost stumbles. Because that’s one name that she has not heard in some time… or a voice.

She turns around, not completely sure that it can be him because, what are the odds?

But it’s actually him. Grant fucking Ward of all people, standing next to the armored truck. Of course, if someone was going to survive in this world it was going to be him.

“Skye… it’s really you. You’re alive” He smiles, looks at her like a man that just found water in the middle of the dessert.

Daisy raises her gun at him.

“Wait” He says, his smile quickly fading.

Then she shoots, and the next thing he hears is the thud of a body hitting the floor just behind him.

They stay like that, staring at each other in silence for a few seconds, until she lowers her gun and finally speaks.

“You owe me one bullet”

He looks down at the body with a bullet hole in the middle of its forehead.

“I just saved your life”

“And I just saved yours” then she looks up and mutters “That’s really something I never thought I would have to say”

“We should probably get out of here”

She blinks, looking at him again “We?”

“Do you have a better plan? Because I don’t think you even have a car, and with all that noise-“

“That you made”

“-there will be more of those things soon. So do you want to leave or not?” He kicks the dead body out of his way and then opens the door.

She sighs. She can hear the sound of more zombies approaching “Just until I can find a place out of this building”

 

* * *

 

 

Ward clears his throat for what it seems to be the fifth time. He probably wants to say something, but it’s just too awkward.

She’s in a car. With Grant Ward. The last time she knew about him he was putting Hydra back together, wanted to kill the team and… well, the world hadn’t ended.

“Can you just-“

“We should-“

They both speak at the same time, which frustrates her even more.

“I think we’re safe now”

“The sun is coming up soon. It’s going t be safer then” He just keeps driving.

She clenches her jaw. He’s probably right “How did you find me anyway?”

“I was just driving, I saw those things coming at the building and I figured someone could need help”

“So that’s what you do now? Help people?”

He looks at her “Not necessarily. But I wanted to check this time. Lucky for you”

Daisy scoffs “Yeah. Lucky me. What are the odds though? I mean, I haven’t seen a living person in weeks. And then _you_ show up”

He stops the car “Do you want to get out of the car?”

“I want my bullet back first”

“Skye. It’s still dark out there, and they’re still hunting. I know that this is weird, but even if we haven’t moved on from the things that happened before, I think that the world out there did. So my suggestion is that we can make a truce for the rest of the night. I’ll give you as many bullets as you need”

He looks at the back seat, where he has a couple of duffel bags full of guns and ammo.

“Or you could just grab one of those guns and shoot me” He finishes “I know it’s not a problem for you”

“It’s not” She looks at him and bites her lip “Just for tonight”

“Good”

“Good”

She looks out the window again, as much as the small slit in the steel plate lets her see the dark streets.

“And do you have… like a place?” Daisy asks and Ward nods. “Are we going there now?”

“Do you have a problem with it?”

“No, it’s ok”

And then it’s back to the awkward silence. It’s worse when her stomach betrays her and growls for him to hear.

“Did you eat anything?”

“I… guess I forgot”

He doesn’t respond to that. She needs to change the subject.

“How did you get this car anyway?”

“I found it”

“Just like that, you found it?”

“I made a few modifications”

“Yeah I can see”

“Before you ask. I didn’t kill anyone to get it”

“I wasn’t asking that”

“But you’re thinking it… or you were going to think it”

“Well, now I am” She mutters.

 

* * *

 

They make it to a small building on the outskirts of the city. It seemed to be some kind of hostel, with a small parking lot in the back entrance so Ward can park the truck inside the building and lock the gates again. It seems safe enough.

“We’re going to be fine in here” He checks the time “It’s 2am. Maybe you can even catch a few hours of sleep”

Daisy just follows him in silence. She notices how all the doors have been barricaded. The only entrance seems to be the one they took from the parking lot.

“Is there anyone else in here?”

“Just me. Believe me. I checked”

“Did you do all of this?” They stop at the only available door in the second floor. He just nods “When?”

“It’s not like I have a lot of things to do. It’s the apocalypse”

He opens the door. It’s just a room with two beds, a closet, a bathroom and small kitchenette.

Ward locks the door behind her. “Make yourself at home” He says and drops the duffel bags on the floor. “I have some tuna, beans, rice, questionable canned meat and all kinds of crackers and protein bars. Take whatever you need” Then he points at the pantry and sits on one bed. The other one is perfectly made, like he has not even touched it.

She should be wary, but she’s really hungry right now, and she has very few food left so, if he’s offering she’s not going to say no. She finds a can of tuna and some crackers. Ward starts checking the guns using a flashlight.

Daisy sits on the other bed to eat “Do you want some?”

Ward shakes his head. He’s too focused, now checking a map and some notes.

“How long have you been here?”

She notices how she doesn’t feel the same awkwardness that she felt in the car as she spends more time with him, which should be raising all kinds of red flags. She still has her backpack and her handgun close by… just in case.

“A couple of weeks I guess”

She frowns “Why?”

It doesn’t seem like he has an answer for that “I don’t know? Living…”

“Do you have a plan? Like somewhere you want to go?”

He finally drops his map and notes and looks at her “I don’t think so. Do you?”

She hesitates. “Not really”

He finally sees her wince when she moves her arm to take another bite from her food.

“You ok?”

Daisy nods.

“Did they get you?” He asks with concern in his voice.

“No. I’m not gonna turn. It’s okay. I’m not like the dumb guy in the movies that hides a bite and then gets everyone killed. It’s just that my powers can be a little painful… You can relax”

“I’m not worried about me”

She looks down and just keeps eating “I’m fine”

Then Ward decides to go back to his… work. For some reason Daisy thinks back at the guy she knew years ago. The one that would meticulously clean and check the guns before a mission.

He reloads every single pistol, riffle and machine gun in his bag, counts his ammo, takes more notes. She notices that he puts aside a few boxes of bullets.

Now she checks the time. It’s been only half an hour since they got here.

“Do you have like a… bathroom situation?”

“Yeah. There’s a few buckets. It’s clean. You can clean yourself or use it to flush the toilet if you need to, and there are more flashlights in the nightstand” He just says without lifting his eyes from his notes.

“Oh… okay” She gets up. It’s still weird that he seems to be so… settled in here. But she appreciates the fact that she can wash her face and refresh herself a little, change into a cleaner sweater. Ward even has soap.

When she goes out again he’s already lying on his bed “Everything okay?” He asks.

 "Yeah. Thank you… for the food and the bathroom…”

She sees him smile “Goodnight Skye” He says before turning his back to her.

Daisy turns off her flashlight and gets into bed.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Just when Daisy starts to feel more comfortable with Grant she discovers the real reason why he found her. It's time they start addressing the (many) elephants in the room because he's not the only one hiding a secret. Daisy has a mission and somewhere that she actually wants to go, but maybe she won't be able to make it on her own.

It must have been the fact that she was really tired, and hadn’t slept on a comfortable bed in weeks… or maybe just that she slept without waiting for a horde of zombies to appear and attack her. As odd as it sounds, she didn’t feel this safe in a long time.

And it’s really late, almost 10 am.

“Damn it” She groans. Ward is not there and his bed is made. He left one bag of guns and ammo.

She could just take that and leave.

She _should._

But some part of her doesn’t want to leave this bed though. And if she wants to be totally honest, finding someone from her past life is comforting… even if it’s Grant Ward. It’s better than being alone, at least for one night. It almost feels like she didn’t lose everything.

But it’s still Grant Ward.

Daisy gets out of the bed and goes back to the bathroom. Now she gets to see how shitty she looks. Dark circles under her eyes and her hair is almost as long as it used to be, only it looks so lifeless. She looks a lot skinnier than she remembers and the bruises on her arms don’t look good either.

For some reason it comes to her mind that Ward used to like her, so long ago when she thought about herself as someone attractive, back when she cared about that sort of thing.

She comes back out when she hears the door.

“You’re up” Ward smiles at her.

She realizes that he doesn’t look like he used to either. Some cuts and bruises, a disheveled beard and he’s also skinnier. But his eyes light up in a familiar way. So familiar that it hurts because she thinks about a time when she was happy.

He’s carrying a new bucket of water and a heavy backpack, along with the second duffel bag with guns on his back.

“Do you need help with that?” She approaches him and goes to take the water bucket, but that’s when Ward catches a glimpse of her arms. She forgot to roll back down the sleeves of her sweater.

“What is that?” He asks, dropping everything as she tries to cover her bruises again.

“I told you that it’s just the powers…”

He takes her arms. It’s the first time that he actually touches her.

It’s the first time that she feels the warmth of human contact in months. Daisy swallows that ugly knot in her throat. She allows him to check on her wounds with a small nod.

“How?” He asks.

She tenses when she feels his fingertips over her skin. “You saw just a little bit of it at that Hydra base, remember?. I can make those waves and send people flying because I’m actually making things shake around them… like the air, particles… whatever. Long story short I can make things move at different frequencies, but I can’t control it perfectly, and it can also hurt my bones… to the point that they start to shatter and splinter…”

Ward frowns. He looks actually worried “That’s gotta hurt”

“I’m kinda learning to live with it” She pulls her arm back “I can get better really fast if I don’t use it. It’s just hard when you’re surviving in a world with hordes of zombies” Daisy tries to joke but he only seems more concerned.

“I might have something for that” He says and then walks to the closet.

It makes her feel a bit uncomfortable… the fact that he’s being so nice, and helpful, and that she feels that she can trust him so easily, like he’s the first version of the guy that she knew. The one that cared about her.

“I told you that I’m okay”

Ward comes back and gives her a small bottle of pills. “This is for rapid bone-”

“Rapid bone healing. I know. These where issued by Shield”

“Yeah… I… got my hands on a few medical supplies back in the day. After this whole thing started I took most of the things that I had in storage. Thought it could be useful”

She finally takes them “Okay… thanks”

“Look… I could… help you out. I know that you said that you were leaving in the morning but I don’t see the point”

“The point is that I’m leaving. I can take care of myself Ward. I appreciate what you did, but I need to go”

“Go where?”

“I don’t know, Ward. Somewhere, but not with you”

He sighs “Why? Because of what happened years ago?”

“Yes. Exactly because of that! Because it meant something for me. Because people died-“

“People are dead now. All of them. Where’s your team now?”

“Shut up, Ward”

“I’m sorry” He lifts his hands “You don’t even have a car. What are you going to do?”

“Maybe I’ll just murder someone and get a car”

“I told you. I didn’t do that!”

“Whatever, Ward. I don’t care” She turns around and walks to her bed where she has her backpack and leather jacket ready.

“Skye…”

“That’s not even my-“ She sighs. “I’m gonna need my bullet back”

“Your bullet...“ He rubs his hair with his hand, as if he’s trying to come up with something to convince her to stay. He knows her. He knows that he can’t “I got a few boxes for you. Take them”

She looks at him, and then at the ammo boxes that he put aside the night before. “Thank you”

“Listen. I know where to get you a car”

“Ward…”

“Just let me do that. I can’t just stay here knowing that you won’t last a minute out there on foot”

“I’ve-“

“Skye… It’s all I’m asking. Don’t be so stubborn with this, please. You know that you need a car”

“Okay, fine. We’ll get the stupid car”

He nods “And then you can leave”

 

* * *

 

 

“It’s an impound lot” Ward says when they arrive “A few of them still work and most of them have some gas left”

“Always so prepared” She says as he stops his truck.

“It should be enough to get you started. Don’t know if it’ll actually get you to wherever you’re going though”

She looks at him, so Ward continues “I’m not an idiot. You’re clearly going somewhere”

“Ward…”

“It’s okay. I’m just happy to know that you’re still alive. I want you to stay that way” He says and finally gets out of the car.

She follows him inside the lot, through a cut in the metal fence. He’s been here before judging by how well he knows his way around.

“Is that thing even going to hold?” She asks when she sees a group of zombies pilling up against the grille on the far side of the lot.

“They weren’t that many the last time I was here” Ward says, getting his machine gun ready. “We’ll have to do this fast. Get to the red Ford. The small one”

She goes while Ward runs to the main office to get the keys. The dead already saw them. They’re starting to get more aggressive. She aims her riffle at them, getting ready.

But it’s like all the sounds they’re making are just attracting more of them, from all sides.

“Ward!” She yells.

They’re going to bring the whole grille down.

“Damn it” She runs to the office just to meet Ward halfway, and he’s being followed by two zombies.

“Go back, go back!!” He yells and tosses the keys at her, which she catches in the air before running back to the car.

Ward stops to kill the two zombies, and that’s when the larger group finally manage to push the grille enough to climb through it.

“Shit, shit, shit....” Daisy starts the car and waits for Ward but he only hits the door and orders her to go. “Get in!”

“I’m gonna give you a head start!” He yells as he keeps shooting at the horde. “Just go!!”

“Ward no!”

“GO, DAMN IT!”

She finally drives, looking at him through the rearview mirror as he retreats back to the office.

“Come on…”

She drives through the fence and past his truck.

He knew that they would have caught them and this car couldn’t have handled the attack. He was always a strategist… the thing is, she can’t let another person die for her.

“Fuck you, Ward” She sighs and turns around the car. This definitely won’t take the punch like his truck.

She rolls down the window as she drives back to the lot.

Ward locked himself up in the office. But there are too many windows, and he’ll run out of bullets at some point. He’ll have to reload and they’ll get in.

She aims her hand at the group as she approaches them and then the earth rumbles. It’s so painful. She feels like her whole arm is getting crushed, but the force of her power is enough to send those things flying and a chunk of the office with them.

Daisy finally stops when her car crashes against another one. she’s yelling in pain and unable to move.

Ward comes out of the office, screaming her name, shooting at some of the zombies that are still trying to get up even though the wave tore apart their limbs.

“Skye!!” He opens the door carefully. “Shit, Skye, are you okay?”

She’s just cursing and trying not to cry because it really fucking hurts.

“I’m gonna get you out of here. Can you move?” He asks and she nods, letting him carry her back to his truck.

He places her on the backseat but she’s barely registering any of it. She feels like she’s about to pass out from the pain and stress.

She feels his hand on her cheek though, hears some of his concerned words, and then feels like the car is moving.

 

* * *

 

 

She wakes up back in Ward’s room.

And it still hurts like hell. He improvised some sort of makeshift cast for her left arm.

“Skye?”

“What…”

“How are you feeling?”

“Like shit” She sighs.

“I’m so sorry. You shouldn’t have done that”

“Should I have let you die then? Because, believe me, it was tempting”

He makes a pause before he speaks again “It was really impressive… what you did”

“Yeah. It felt that way” She finally looks at him. He’s sitting on his bed.

“It’s not totally broken yet, but I can tell that there’s a lot of damage. You can’t do that again. You can’t use your powers”

“I’m gonna be fine. I’m a righty” She says lifting her right arm and trying to smile.

“It was my fault. I insisted on the car thing. This shouldn’t have happened. I’m sorry”

She looks at him for a moment. “I needed the car”

“And now we don’t have one. And you got hurt. Because of me”

“Believe me. In times like these it’s easy to take the blame for everything that happens, but it doesn’t help anyone. We’re both alive”

“Thanks to you” Grant nods, but he still looks so broken “Can I get you anything?”

“I’m fine”

He offers her a bottle of water and she takes it. “You need to get some rest. I… get that you need to be somewhere but just give it a little time. I’ll get you a car myself, and supplies, food… anything, okay? Just leave when you’re feeling better”

She nods. “Thank you”

“Than _you_ ” He smiles “I guess our truce can go for a little longer”

That actually makes her smile. It feels good to have someone taking care of you. Grant brings her food and water, and constantly checks on her arm without saying a word. He lets her sleep for hours, and when he’s not there he makes sure to leave a couple of guns close to her reach.

Always so damn prepared.

She gets out of the bed when she gets hungry. It really seems like he’s been here for a long time, she's been here with him for the last couple of days and she can tell that he knows his way around, and has a lot of supplies and he's always taking notes.  

What is he even doing here in first place?

That thing he was working on that night…

It doesn’t take her long to find the small notebook and the map in the back of the closet.

She recognizes the pattern when she sees it.

First, the exact location of the Playground base, just outside of DC, delimited with a 30-mile perimeter. There are some crosses over the base and the nearest cities… a few calculations and then a few notes on seismic activity in the area.

She remembers that she got cornered by a big horde back in York, trying to search for supplies. He marked it just the same way he marked the base and delimited a new 30-mile perimeter, which ended up bringing him to Harrisburg, where they are now.

She reads through his notes. He registered everything, including the effect her power could have on the dead as he probably encountered the destroyed corpses in her wake.

 

* * *

 

When he comes back Daisy is waiting for him.

“I found a bakery and it has some supplies” He says excitedly. “I mean… it could be risky but I’m pretty sure I could make some bread. I regret so much not eating that kind of stuff back when I could”

She’s just staring at him.

“You just found it?”

“Uhm… yeah?”

“How long have you been living here? I mean it’s not that big of a place”

“What?”

“Or how about York?”

He frowns “What’s wrong?”

She looks down “You asked if I didn’t trust you because of what happened with Hydra. It’s about everything Ward. It’s about who you are. I can’t trust you and I always end up being right”

“What are you talking about?”

She reaches under her pillow and gets the notebook and the map, then she throws them at him.

He doesn’t say anything.

“And then… you asked about the team. You want to know where they are because you’re still looking for us!… after everything you still want that stupid revenge. How is that any better than whatever the team did to Agent 33?”

He clenches his jaw “Her name was Kara”

Daisy finally looks at him.

“You tortured Bobbi Morse. Wanna know where she is now? She’s dead. And Coulson, and May-“

“I know!”

“You know?”

“I went there”

“To the base…”

“Yeah. I was there. You saw the map…”

“Yes. I saw the fucking map, Ward. What do you even want, then? What are you looking for? They’re all dead!”

“I wasn't looking for them”

“You gotta be kidding me” She shakes her head “I didn’t even have anything to do- is this because I shot you?”

“Skye, no…”

She struggles to get up and Grant clearly refrains himself from helping her “No, it’s okay. At least I did that. I would be pissed if I was shot by someone too… oh wait”

“No, no. I don’t care about any of that! And if anything… I’m glad that Kara is not here to live in this hell! I'm not looking for revenge”

“Then what do you want?”

“Nothing! I just needed to know… if you were still alive” He finally moves closer. “I- when this happened I realized how pointless the whole revenge thing was, and I had to find a reason to keep fighting. I didn’t have anything left, but… I needed to know if _you_ were alive. My parents, my brothers and my sister, they were all dead. The people I knew, everyone... I went looking. I realized that I needed to check on one last person. I needed to see with my own two eyes if you- That’s why I went there. That’s why I went in and searched the whole base”

“It was full of-“

“I know! But I needed to check every face and make sure that you weren’t one of them. Not knowing felt worse than anything else”

Daisy sits back on the bed. She looks a little lost, as if she’s trying to piece everything together.

“It’s hard to find a reason the live in this world” Ward continues “Everyone died, but then I didn't see you at the base. I figured if there was a chance that you were still alive… I could keep searching” He sits in front of her, on his bed “And then I felt the earthquake in York, and I knew that there was a possibility”

“It’s been almost a year”

“I know. I know. And it was probably weird… and stupid. But I did find you, and now I feel like there’s at least a little hope”

“Hope for what?”

“I don’t know, for this life to not be such a miserable, pointless mess” He takes a breath. What he wants to say doesn’t necessarily mean anything, but it’s the truth “You know that I really didn’t have a lot of people that I really cared about in my life… but you were one of them. You’re always going to be, no matter what”

Daisy sighs, she’s still a bit speechless.

“Listen. I’m sorry. About everything. And I mean _everything_. I wasn’t looking for you because of some revenge against you… or the team. I didn’t like seeing them like that”

She closes her eyes. The memories are still too painful. Too vivid. “Did you put them down?”

He hesitates for a second, the question kind of caught him off guard “I… yes. I did” He waits because he doesn’t know how she’s going to answer to that.

Daisy sobs “Good. Because I couldn’t do it, and they didn’t deserve to stay like that”

“Nobody does”

She shakes her head and she can’t hold her tears anymore. Grant moves to sit next to her. He just places his hand on her back.

“It’s okay”

But then she leans against him, her face pressing against his chest and he can’t help but wrap his arms around her.

She doesn’t even remember him holding her like this before, not even when things were good between them. She doesn’t remember having him this close, and feeling so vulnerable; and she finally allows herself to cry. Not like every night when she lets out a few tears before she goes to sleep. She finally let’s go of all that pain and guilt and cries for minutes in his arms.

Even Grant Ward decided that her life was worth devoting himself to find her. And now, as twisted as it can be, she’s not alone anymore.

It’s hard to care about all the things that happened in the past when the world is ending.

“I’m sorry” Ward keeps repeating.

She knows that he’s sorry. She knows what one can do to appease all the guilt. He almost died today, and deep down she knows that she doesn’t want that to happen.

She only speaks after a few minutes, after she calms down. “Not all of them died”

“Fitzsimmons” Ward concludes and she nods.

“Stark recruited them and took them to a lab in Canada before the base fell”

“That’s where you want to go”

“You said it yourself” She says and tries to wipe away the tears with her hand “It’s hard to find a reason to live these days. Communications went down after the base fell and I… didn’t have anything else to do. I tried to help people, send them to the camps. But then the camps fell too” She finally moves away from him “Finding them really is the only thing that gives me hope”

“Let me help with that”

Her eyes finally meet his “I don’t know if it’s possible”

“What do we have to lose?”

“The border is still like 400 miles away, and then it’s like a thousand more to the facility… and winter is approaching”

“That’s not an answer”

“Ward. This is really not your cause. I’m the one that needs to find them, and you should go south”

“I can’t go back to wonder everyday if you’re still alive” he says and she looks down to avoid his gaze “Do you have a plan?”

Daisy takes a deep breath before she answers, trying to get her voice back to normal “I figured I could cross in Wellesly Island, stay away from the big cities...”

“It sounds like a good plan”

“It sounds like certain death”

“So does going to the south, or the east, or west. Those damn things are everywhere. What we should do now is stick together and keep fighting”

She almost smiles at that. Since when did he become such a team player? “And then?”

“I don’t know. Fitz and Simmons are the geniuses, and we can find them. Together”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone! I'm back with a second chapter and uh oh... is it possible that other characters live in this world? you're going to have to wait for that because in the next one we're going on a road trip!!! So put on your winter coats because we're going to Canada!... that was lame, sorry hahaha. Let's just see what Grant and Daisy are going to face on their trip, like when is he even to find out about her real name? 
> 
> Please don't forget to share your thought, comment, give your opinion, what you're hoping to see! See you the next time :)


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Daisy and Grant start their trip, but soon they have to face another group of survivors and new dangers, which finally makes them address their biggest problem: they need to trust each other again, and maybe start from scratch.

A couple of days later she’s feeling a bit better. Things between her and Ward are going back to the awkwardness though. After opening up like they did they’re on uncharted territory here.

It almost feels like they’re getting to know each other all over again.

This time for real.

He’s been packing all the supplies that they have and going out for more and Daisy finds herself getting worried when he takes a little longer. He never goes out for more than 3 hours.

She’s also feeling a bit useless, but her arm is recovering quickly and she can feel the strength coming back to her body. At least she can help by planning the route and making some more calculations for what they could need in terms of gas, ammo, water and food.

Being so prepared is not such a bad idea, especially if they’re going to drive for days into the Canadian wilderness.

Ward comes back carrying a big box. She helps him with the door and it almost feels like they have some kind of camaraderie going on that makes her push thoughts about better times to the back of her mind.

“Took you longer this time” She points out.

“I saw a pharmacy, I figured we could also use some medical supplies”

“Yeah… for those terrible headaches in the middle of the apocalypse” She teases as Ward opens the box.

“We need to be focused on the task. A headache can be distracting. I also got some stuff for you”

Daisy peeks inside the box “Tampons?” She smiles. “A… lot of them”

Grant clears his throat “They could be useful for cuts or wounds too”

She chuckles at that “I can’t wait to see that happening”

Grant rolls his eyes but he smiles “I found more water and some candy, and chips. Don’t know if they’re still good to eat. I got more blankets and coats, new boots for you and towels, socks, anything to keep us warm. Everything is already in the car. I think we have enough to leave tomorrow. We can make it to the border in one day”

Daisy nods.

“How’s your arm?”

“Better” she moves her to illustrate her point. It’s still tightly wrapped with ripped t-shirts and gauze “I probably can’t quake any zombies but I can hold a gun”

He smiles and that distracts her for a second. It’s almost like the world didn’t end outside of this room. It’s impressive how you can hold onto anything that you can get in times like these, any form of company and human contact. Now it’s not just the idea of finding Fitz and Simmons. She’s happy to just wake up and not being alone.

She looks down “You hungry?”

“Yeah. Maybe we should try that canned meat before we go. If it’s bad at least we have more options now” He says, going to the pantry and getting a couple of cans and two forks. He gives her one can and sits on her bed.

Daisy decides to sit next to him.

She smells her food before she eats “It doesn’t smell bad”

Grant takes the first bite “It’s bad. I mean… it’s not bad, it’s just…not good” he laughs, which makes her laugh.

“Do you know how to hunt?”

He nods.

“I’m like dying to eat some real meat”

“Wow… you sure you were not bitten?”

She chuckles “Come on, don’t you miss the food? Like good food… like going to a restaurant a having a good steak”

He nods “I do” he looks at her “Sometimes I just wish I had a normal life before, maybe a life where I could have enjoyed those simple things more”

“I don’t know, maybe we wouldn’t be here. We know how to survive”

“Yeah… being a survivor, I don’t know if that’s something good or just a curse” Grant teases but she falls silent at his comment “You okay?”

She smiles, but it feels forced “Yeah. It’s just- sometimes I think the same thing. I guess we were never that different after all”

That night she doesn’t get a lot of sleep, but this time it’s not because she’s scared, or hurt, or hungry.

She’s just thinking.

She stares at him, sleeping on the other bed. They fell into this sense of normalcy so quickly, so easily.

They always shared that chemistry. Now it’s hard to ignore that pull that she feels towards him… and it’s not like she can start having feelings for him again, because that would be a mistake, but she does think that they could be friends. They could go back to the point where they trusted each other. They always made a good team.

They worked well like that. Friends. Partners.

A team.

She wonders how Fitzsimmons would react if they saw him.

They left before the base fell and didn’t have to see the things that she saw. They didn’t have to live through all of this hell alone. They don’t know how it feels to find someone when you thought that you had lost all hope.

They have to understand why she decided to forgive and move on.

Because she did, and Ward was right… the world moved on. Those things don’t care about anything that happened in the past. Humanity needs to stick together… whoever is left.

 

* * *

 

Grant is waiting for her when she comes out of the bathroom.

“You cut your hair”

“Yep. I was actually wearing it like this before everything started. It’s not pretty, but it’s tactical, especially when you’re running away from dead people”

He smiles “It looks great. It’s nice”

She clears her throat and tries to change the subject, because she knows that she’s blushing like a teenage girl “Everything ready? We can have breakfast on the road”

He tosses one of the winter jackets at her “We’re good”

Daisy grabs her backpack, the jacket and another bag with more food.

“You sure you can carry that?”

“I’m good” Daisy protests and follows Ward out of the room. “It feels like we’re just going camping”

She hears him laughing.

He actually laughs a lot, more than she remembers.

Grant drives out of the building. They have enough food, ammo… and even tampons so yeah, maybe they’ll actually make it. The truck is built like a tank and they have a perfect plan. What could go wrong?

 

* * *

 

“We should take a detour before Scranton, it’s too populated” Daisy says while she checks the map.

“It could cost us at least two hours”

“But it’s safer. Take the 220 and we’ll turn before Ithaca”

“We won’t make it to the border today”

“Maybe it’s better that way. It’s too close to Ottawa and it could be too dangerous to get there when it’s late”

He thinks about it for a second “Okay… you’re the boss. I’m just the driver”

Then she puts the map down “Wait, what’s that?”

“What?”

Daisy feels it first. She can almost feel the vibrations under the car “Like a roaring…” she says but the car windows are all sealed and they can see through the mirrors “It’s a motorcycle…”

“Or more than one” Grant says when he finally hears it.

“Do you think that they’re friendly?”

“They usually aren’t”

And then they feel someone knocking on Grant’s door. He sees a guy on a bike, and he lifts his right hand, where he’s holding a grenade.

“Shit… “

It’s the same on her side, then a few more bikers drive ahead of him. They’re all armed to the teeth.

“Stop the car!” They hear from the outside.

“What do we do?”

“How many can you count?” Grant asks.

“I don’t know at least 6?”

“I could just run them over”

Daisy looks at him “No!.... and they could still blow us up”

“Can you fight with that arm?”

“Yeah”

“Okay… okay” Grant finally pulls over and stops the truck. “Just follow my lead”

The bikers keep knocking on the doors of the car. “Get out with your hands where we can see them”

Grant opens his door slowly, showing his hands first. “It’s okay. We don’t have to make a problem out of this guys”

“Get out!” The one that seems to be the leader yells.

Daisy steps out of the car too.

“My girlfriend got her arm hurt. It’s just the two of us. We don’t want any trouble” Grant says.

“That a bite?” Another guy asks.

“No” Daisy says “It’s just a fracture”

“Where the hell did you get this ride?” The leader speaks again.

“I made it… I’m a mechanic, I got the pieces-”

“Bring them to the front”

Then two guys grab them and make them kneel in front of the truck. There are six bikers. Grant shares a quick look with Daisy before he speaks again.

“Come on guys. She’s hurt. You don’t have to do this” Then he looks to the bikers on his left. Daisy can see that he’s getting ready. He takes the time to nod slightly at each of the four guys to the left. “We have been driving for days…”

Daisy gets his message and eyes the two bikers to her right. She leans down, placing her hand on the gravel.

“Driving where?”

Grant looks at her “Uhm…” 

“Hey boss… those guys have an armory in here!” A seventh biker says after peeking inside the truck.

Before anyone can react Grant nods at Daisy “Go”

She grabs a handful of gravel and hits one of the bikers as a distraction, then launches at the other and tackles him off his bike.

She hears gunshots, growls and curses; but she can’t see what’s happening. She’s holding the biker on a chokehold, when the other one appears, aiming a gun at her, she rolls to use the biker as a human shield, while she kicks the other guy in the legs and makes him trip and fall.

He still shoots before he’s down, killing the one that’s above her, and Daisy attacks him when he’s on the ground, easily taking the gun and knocking him out with a kick to the head.

When she stands up she sees Grant pushing another biker against the truck before aiming his gun at him. 

“Wait!”

Grant looks at her “You okay?”

“You killed them…” She looks at the other bodies.

“You killed one”

“That wasn’t me!”

“It’s okay. They won’t turn. I shot them in the head” Then he turns his attention back to the last guy.

“Ward. Don’t. This is going to sound really stupid, but we don’t have to be like them”

“You want to let them live? These guys were about to steal from us, probably to kill us too”

“And they learned their lesson. We can just go now”

“Better listen to your girl, man” The guy that Daisy was just fighting comes from behind her, pressing a knife to her neck as he grabs her.

Grant lowers his gun with a sigh. Now he looks genuinely pissed.

“And you better let her go” Ward says in a lower voice.

“How about you give me your keys and then I let her go” The guy answers.

Daisy rolls her eyes “Trust me, you don’t want to do this” she says “You can leave now and just-“

“Shut up, stupid bitch!” He yells at her and grabs her even tighter, wrapping his free hand around her midsection.

Grant closes his eyes and shakes his head “You shouldn’t have said that” he mutters. 

That’s when the second guy tries to launch himself at Grant, but without even looking at him, he shoots him in the leg.

“Come on…” Daisy says and then elbows the guy in the stomach. She wraps her arm around his neck and flips them over until he’s on the ground and she’s free from his hold. She still groans in pain, holding her left arm. Then she sees Ward coming at the biker “Ward, no!”

Grant grabs him by his shirt “What did you just call her?” He lifts him easily and throws him against one of the bikes.

Then he grabs him again, this time to punch him, repeatedly “You’re definitely going to learn your lesson”

The biker is already bleeding and spitting his teeth out when Daisy grabs Grant’s arm.

“It’s enough”

“It’s not” Then he shoots him in the stomach.

She clenches her jaw while she hears the agonizing sounds that the biker makes “What the hell, Ward!!”

“They deserved it!”

Daisy shakes her head “We don’t need a world where we are worse than the dead”

“We already were” He shoots him again. This time in the head.

Then she shoves him… as hard as she can with just one arm “You haven’t changed one bit. You’re still-” then she goes back to the truck.

“I’m what!” Ward yells “A murderer? A monster!”

Daisy ignores him and sits in the car again. She sees him coming back for the last guy. Ward grabs him and throws him out of their way. He yells at him but finally lets him go alive before going back to the car.

They sit in silence for a few seconds. Daisy stares at his bloodied knuckles.

“Maybe the world had already gone to shit and deserved to end like it did” Grant finally says.

“That’s why you do the things that you do?” Daisy says “You can’t live with all that hate”

“I can’t live with some guy pulling a knife on you”

“You knew that I could handle it”

“Doesn’t change the fact that he wanted to do it. He would have done it if we weren’t…. what we are…. and you hurt your arm!”

“Yeah, so you murdered a bunch of guys?”

“Bad guys!”

“People! Living, breathing human beings in a world where everything else died!”

Grant shakes his head “They probably killed others before us. I just don’t get why you care so much”

He says and then starts the car.

She doesn’t speak until they’ve driven for a few minutes.

“I don’t want to believe there’s nothing else left… no more people, that we’re alone. Not all of them can be bad, you know?”

Daisy thinks that he’s not going to answer after he just drives in silence for a few seconds.

“Maybe there there are some good people still out there, but the chance that you can find them…” he sighs “it’s not like you have had any luck so far”

Daisy looks at him “You said it yourself. We just see the world differently, remember?”

 

* * *

 

 

They make it to a small hamlet called Clark Mills that afternoon. It’s nothing more than a few houses on the side of the highway. They need to seek refuge before it gets dark, and a place like this, in the middle of nowhere, seems like the perfect option.

Ward just drives in silence until he sees a house that looks safe enough to spend the night.

“Keep looking” Daisy says.

“This is the best one. It has a fence, it’s close to the highway and it’s small…”

"Exactly. If someone else comes around they’ll look for the best house. This is the best house, and then more people will end up dead. Never take the best place. More people will want it”

He sighs but decides not to contradict her “That’s smart” then he drives until they find a second house. The fence doesn’t look as strong and it has more windows than he would like but it’s still safe. The town is completely deserted, it’s not likely that a group of zombies will be hunting in the area.

He parks the truck behind the house and then Daisy follows him to the front entrance.

“We can stay in the second floor and find a way to block the stairs, maybe a couple of traps…”

Daisy nods and follows him.

It takes them only a few minutes to clear the whole house. There’s a living room, a dining room and… nothing in the kitchen.

A family lived here. Daisy can tell by some photos and materials left behind in the study room where the family used to work on craft projects together.

And now they’re probably dead.

She sits on the desk and swallows; she’s been overly emotional the last few days. She’s a bit confused. It was easy to forget all the bad things that Ward did in the past, but today was a reminder.

Deep down she knows why he acted like that, though.

He enters the room and Daisy realizes that she has to wipe a couple of stray tears off her face.

Ward doesn’t say a word about it “Let’s check upstairs”

On the second floor they find two bedrooms. One belonged to the kid and the other one to the parents. He goes to check the bathroom and the closet while Daisy sets her things on the bed.

“I think we’re good” Ward says “I’m going back to the car to get our things. Can you start working on the stairs? We could use the furniture… Skye?”

She looks at him. He doesn’t even know her real name.

Ward clenches his jaw “Is this still about the bikers?”

She shakes her head and walks past him. “It’s not about the fucking bikers”

 

* * *

 

 They don’t speak much for the rest of the night, just trivial things like what she wants for dinner; and they don’t leave the bedroom. They make plans for the trip the next day. Things are going to be a bit more difficult as they drive into Canada. They can’t go near the biggest cities, and it’s harder to find small towns that are not that far away from each other for the nights.

The research center it’s at least 15 hours away, which means they’ll be driving for 2 or 3 more days since they need time to find refuge and get it ready before it gets dark.

She’s starting to doubt if this was a good idea at all.

Daisy doesn’t say anything when Ward takes the left side of the bed. She wasn’t expecting him to sleep on the floor or anything and it’s not like there are other options. No one will make a big deal about it. The mattress can fit the both of them and they don’t even have to touch.

She still feels a bit awkward, especially after what happened with the bikers…. And even more because, deep down, she thinks he was right. Not that what he did was right, but it had to be done.

That’s just the way that he has always seen the world, and now the world is just like that.

He gives her a separate blanket. “Have a good night”

“You too” Daisy responds and then takes her side of the bed. Maybe tomorrow they can talk about it, or maybe she’ll decide that she needs to complete this journey on her own. She just wants to get rid of that strange feeling… like she doesn’t know what’s right or wrong anymore.

She doesn’t even know if Fitz and Simmons are still alive.

She doesn’t know if it’s okay to drag Ward with her in this.

She’s not sure if he even deserves to be here, alive… not like this world is any good.

Maybe the lucky ones are those who died first? In that case he’s right where he belongs.

And so is she.

That night the nightmares come back. At some point she realizes that it’s not real, but she just can’t wake up. She has to see them dying and turning and the base becomes and endless maze while they chase after her.

When she finally finds the door of the Vault she runs down, but Ward is out of his cell. He has a gun.

He shoots her in the stomach.

She screams in pain as blood gushes out of her. She cries.

She feels a hand on her shoulder and his voice…

“Skye… what’s going on? Wake up!”

Daisy is shaking. She’s so cold and her hand goes to her stomach because she can almost feel the pain… again.

Ward cups her face to make her look at him.

“Skye! Look at me. It’s okay”

Daisy realizes that she’s shaking when she grabs his wrist, but she doesn’t remove his hands, she’s more like holding him in place, trying to get back to reality just by looking at him.

She finally moves away from him as her breathing stabilizes.

“You were just having a nightmare… are you okay?”

Daisy shakes her head “It wasn’t just a nightmare. They were memories”

Ward looks at her while she sits on the bed, hugging her legs against her chest. She’s still shaking.

He sighs and hesitates for a moment before he decides not to touch her “Do you- do you want to talk about it?”

“There’s not a lot to talk about. Everyone died and I’m back to being alone”

“You’re not”

She chuckles but it sounds more like a sob “Ward, you were the first one to leave me” She really didn’t mean to add that me at the end but that’s it. It’s out there.

He looks broken. “Skye-“

“You know…” she cuts him off “that’s not even my name”

Grant doesn’t say anything.

“I thought Cal told you, since you seemed to be such good friends”

“I didn’t ask. When it came to you he was a little…”

Daisy nods “Yeah. He was… complicated. Was. Past tense. He’s dead now too. I checked”

“I’m sorry”

“Everyone is, Ward. You can’t be sorry about all of them, no matter how hard you tried to be the one to do it”

“We can’t keep doing this” Ward finally says and Daisy looks at him.

He continues “You’re clearly struggling with the fact that I’m the one here, because you don’t want to trust me. You want to bring back all the reasons why you should hate me and not-“

“Great. Just make this whole thing about you…”

“I’m not. It’s about _you._ You want to feel like that because it was what everyone expected of you, because you were one of the _good_ guys, and you had to fight the _bad_ guy. You don’t have to put on an act anymore. It’s not in your nature to be like them, or me. Just look at what happened with the bikers today, you wanted to show them mercy. You wanted to believe that they could just change if they were given a chance. Maybe they taught you to think like an agent but they couldn’t change your heart. And now that you don’t have anyone to tell you what to do you just don’t know what’s right anymore”

“Well, they are not here because I couldn’t-“

“They are not here because the world ended, and that’s not on you. You didn’t make the dead come back to life”

She looks down.

Grant speaks again “Back when we lived in the bus… I saw you. I knew you wanted to be what everyone expected you to be, like you did your whole life. You told me about that” he finale reaches for her hand, almost without thinking it but she lets him touch her “but… I also saw that sometimes you slipped, sometimes you were just you, and I was… _me_ ” He clears his throat and pulls his hand back “I always thought that you were better, you know?, that you were too good for this life, that it was wrong to try to change that. We were the ones that failed you”

“I can’t just go back to being that naïve girl”

“You don’t have to, and I don’t think that having a good heart makes you naïve, you can just find the balance. No one is expecting you to do anything. No one is blaming you for what happened at the base, not even the team because they really loved you, and they never needed you to prove anything. Now you gotta keep living, and fighting. You have a purpose. You have to find Fitz and Simmons because they are your family”

“And what about you? What’s your purpose?” Daisy looks at him again.

He doesn’t really know how to answer to that. He just knows that the hope of finding her kept him alive, and now that they are here he wants to stick around, he wants to keep fighting “I guess… I want to feel hope. Maybe everything is not lost in this world and I’ll get to see it and the rage will go away. When I found you I felt it and… perhaps there’s more out there so I want to keep looking, and I want to help you find what you’re looking for”

“Yeah, well… I don’t even know if Fitzsimmons are still alive”

“But that’s not going to stop you. I know it’s scary but whatever happens it’s not going to be on you. You just get to decide what to do in this new world. As for me maybe I can do better, maybe you were right about the bikers…”

“No. I wasn’t. I know they were shitty people. As you said we all get to decide what to do and they decided to kill and steal and prey on the weak. I saw it on their faces and I know that you saw it, too”

“I just wanted to protect you” Grant lets out, and he regrets it because such a confession might be too personal for this moment.

Daisy feels it too. She avoids his gaze “I think… we should start from scratch, I guess. I mean- we won’t last a second out there if we disagree on everything and don’t trust each other”

“I trust you” He teases.

“Shut up” She rolls her eyes, then she offers her hand “Daisy Johnson”

He takes it “Grant Ward”

She tries to smile “It’s more meaningful on my part because you actually didn’t know my name”

That makes Grant chuckle “Yeah… it’s a great name. Nice to meet you, Daisy”

She swallows. It’s weird to hear him say her real name. It also feels weird to know that he’ll not call her Skye anymore. That name made her feel like a different person, like that girl that had hope and only wanted to find her family.

Not Daisy, the Shield agent, the one that had so much weight on her shoulders.

She looks at him, and they’re way too close so she scoots away from him. “I guess we have a lot of driving to do tomorrow”

Grant clears his throat “Yeah. Are you good now?”

Daisy nods “If I have another nightmare you can wake me up”

He smiles at her “Sure. Just tell me if you need anything, okay?”

She nods again and lays back on the bed. Grant moves to his side.

“Daisy?” He says after a few seconds.

“Huh?”

“I’m sorry about today”

They keep staring to the ceiling in silence. She knows that he’s still awake and that his heart is beating a bit faster. She can feel it, and she really doesn’t want to go there with him again. The last time it was a really painful mess, and now… well, she doesn’t want to get attached to anyone. She can’t afford to lose more people.

And right now Grant Ward is the only one she has.

 

* * *

 

 

“Keep driving west and take a right on the 26th. We’ll stick to the less traveled roads and avoid all the cities”

“Well, when you think about it, all the roads are the less traveled roads now” Grant says, which earns him a look from Daisy “Sorry, that wasn’t funny”

She looks at him “It wasn’t. And now I’m realizing that I’m gonna be stuck in here with you and your bad jokes for hours”

Grant chuckles “Do you have any ideas about our next stop?”

“There are supposed to be like a bunch of cabins north of Kingston? About 40 or 50 miles from the border. Do you think we can make it?”

“Sure. It shouldn’t be a problem”

“Good”

 “Yeah…” 

And then she looks out the window again. It doesn’t really help. She can barely see anything and it just makes her feel even more trapped in this small space.

Not like trapped in a bad way. It’s just awkward, all that silence only interrupted by trivial questions. It’s funny how it’s so easy for them to open up some times and then it’s back to this. Maybe it’s the fact that they’re so close in this confined space. In broad daylight she can see him staring at her sometimes like he wants to say something… and she feels like she might have a lot of things to say too.

They’re still testing the waters here and she doesn’t know how to approach this situation, she doesn’t know if they can just go back to being friends like the used to be, but she knows that they really need to trust each other

Some time later she finds herself humming to some catchy pop song while she’s still trying to avoid him.

But Grant notices it “What are you singing?”

“Oh, sorry”

He smiles “It’s okay. It’s nice”

“And I’m not really singing, it’s just this melody in my head… I don’t even remember the song that well”

“Do you miss it? To listen to music…” He clarifies.

Daisy just stares at him “What? Who wouldn’t?”

“Well, I wasn’t like a big music fan”

She scoffs “Of course you weren’t. And really, what’s a road trip if you don’t listen to music?”

“I didn’t go on road trips. I had missions”

“Wow… is this more like a mission or a road trip?”

Grant tilts his head “Neither? A bit of both?” He looks at her and she’s smiling, which makes him smile too “I do have an idea”

That’s how an hour later they end up making an unplanned stop.

“We gotta stay alert” Ward says as he stops the car.

“Wait this is a mall. We can’t go into a mall”

He’s already getting out of the car.

“Wait, Ward! We don’t need anything” Daisy insists but he’s already taking one of the duffle bags where they carry their guns. He always takes them with him… just in case.

Which means she’ll have to bring the other one.

“You said you trusted me with this”

“I though you were talking about a shortcut!” she protests but takes the rifle that Grant handles her.

“It’s just in an out. There’s a store here that you’re going to like”

“Have you been here before?”

“Yeah…” He smiles.

“In Watertown, New York?” She asks incredulously.

He starts walking “Look… I know this might be risky, and very unlike me, but I think it’s worth it”

Daisy sighs. She follows him “Did you ever watch a zombie movie? We’re going to die in here…”

Grant chuckles “We’re not. Just stay alert”

Inside it’s just as creepy as she could imagine. The stores were looted and destroyed, some of them burned and she can even see stains of blood among the rubble and shattered glass on the floor.

“It’s not far. Follow me” Grant says.

They walk with their guns ready, walking like they were trained to do, clearing each corner before moving further.

He finally stops in front of a store. It doesn’t look a lot better than the others. He goes inside.

“An FYE, really?”

“We can get some records for our road trip”

 She’s kind of mad? But she laughs “We’re going to get killed over some CDs?”

Grant smiles at her “Come on”

Daisy follows him inside the store. Anything that could have been food or clothes is long gone, the rest is just a mess…. a few comic books, magazines, toys…

“The metaphor for consumerism in the zombie apocalypse” Daisy mutters.

He stops “What?”

“I would tell you that you need to watch zombie movies, but we’re already living in this hell so…”

Grant shakes his head and keeps walking. Then they find the music section.

It’s not that bad, most of it was destroyed or looted but she can already see that there’s a lot that can be salvaged.

She finally puts her gun down while Grant keeps guard.

“If I have to be honest, this is pretty nice” She says and Grant smiles at her “Still stupid, but it’s nice”

“You said that not everything can be bad, right? I mean, I know that you were talking about people but I figured that finding something that makes you happy can make life a little easier, make you feel whole again” He says and lowers his gun as well.

Daisy doesn’t fail to notice the intensity of his gaze, the way he looks at her like he wants to convey something deeper.

He finally looks away and clears his throat “Even if it’s something as silly as a record, right?”

“Yeah…” She avoids his eyes too, going back to all the CDs on the shelf “or really bad road trip music”

She succeeds on changing the subject by holding a CD in front of him. He doesn’t seem to have a clue… “This is a southern rock album and… I don’t know much about it, but Sweet Home Alabama is in it, and that’s as cliché as we can get”

He smiles again “Okay… take anything you like, and then we’ll be gone”

“Do you have any requests? Please don’t say instrumental…”

He joins her as she looks through the albums “I like rock from the eighties? I don’t know…”

“Like a guns n roses type of sh- oh! There’s a journey album. We’re so going to sing to this”

But when she turns the first thing she sees is a zombie walking inside the store. “Ward!” She yells and in a split second he has his gun ready and shoots at him.

“Damn it… grab whatever you can and let’s go!”

 

* * *

 

Daisy gets inside the car before him, tosses her bag in the backseat and then starts firing her gun to provide cover for Grant. He runs with a small group of zombies chasing after him, but Daisy quickly shoots down all of them while he gets inside the car.

They both start laughing a few minutes later.

“I can believe you did that” Daisy says, shaking her head. “We could have died” She punches his arm “I told you we were going to die!”

“I… well, yeah. That was quite intense, but I hadn’t heard you laugh like that in years so maybe it was worth it”

She bites her lip and smiles at him “Yeah, totally… I think Katy Perry just made it through the apocalypse so there’s that” and then they start laughing again.

“Okay, let’s put on some music” He says and then Daisy reaches for her duffel bag in the back seat.

And just minutes later she’s singing along to Johnny Cash and Grant should be regretting his decision, except that he’s looking at her with a big, goofy smile on his face.

“How’s that I never heard you sing before?” He finally says.

“You didn’t?”

“Believe me, I would remember”

“That bad?”

He smiles and shakes his head “No. You have a beautiful voice”

She smiles back and she feels like she’s probably blushing. That’s when she realizes why the silence felt so awkward, they both were trying to force it because the minute they start to open up, and to relax with each other, she can feel that spark again. The undeniable connection between them.

It’s just too easy to be with him, to talk and make jokes and just… let her guard down.

Just minutes later they are crossing the Canadian border. Grant notices Daisy rubbing her hands together.

“Are you good? Do you need another jacket?”

“I’m fine for now”

He looks at her “What about your arm?”

“It’s getting better everyday” Then she presses her hands together and blows on them trying to feel more warmth.

“Must be around 30 degrees outside”

“And it’s only going to get worse”

“We’ll make it before that”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey!!! this one is a bit longer. I hope you liked the drama, because next.... well, you're really going to like what's coming next hahaha. Please leave your feedback, as always, and thank you for reading!


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Daisy and Grant cross the border and they finally bring down the last wall between them. She doesn't want to just survive anymore. She wants to live.

They drive through the border and a couple of small towns but Daisy insist to keep going. It’s still early and they have enough time to try to go further into Ontario. Stark’s research center is to the north, close to the bay area and they need to get there the next day because she doesn’t know how long they’ll last.

Also, being in Canada kinda reminds her of the last time they were here. Now it’s a memory that she wants to forget.

“You know in other circumstances I would even say that this is beautiful” Grant says, catching her attention again.

“It still is… I mean a much as I can see through your Mad Max car windows, and you know, the occasional rotting corpse”

Grant smiles “I think it’s time to look for a place to spend the night. This is a park, there’s plenty of cabins”

“The woods kinda give me the creeps”

“It’s just one night. We’ll be fine…aaaand I think I just found us a nice place” He stops the car “Not the best one, not to close to the main road, so no one should bother us…”

She smiles and nods while Grant gets out of the car.

The place is basically just one room with a kitchen and a sofa and a bed next to a small window.

“We’re going to need to seal those windows” Grant says dropping a couple of bags on the floor.

Daisy is already crouching down next to a small furnace “And get firewood”

“I don’t know if that’s a good idea” but then the disappointed look that she gives him makes him forget every logical decision “But I’ll see what I can do about it”

She smiles “I could just quake a tree”

“You won’t quake anything. You need to take care of your arm”

“Okay dad”

Grant shakes his head “I’m going to bring the rest of our things in”

_Our things._

* * *

 

 

They still have enough food and ammo so they really don’t have anything to worry about for now. Daisy is in charge of inventory and she’s sitting on the bed with a couple of blankets over her shoulders and it still seems like it’s not enough.

She looks out the window and sees Grant chopping the wood.

For a second she almost feels like they’re not in the middle of the apocalypse. This could have been just a normal mission, or even a getaway.

It’s also quite enthralling watching him work.

He comes back a couple of minutes later and he’s almost shaking.

“Shit… better get that thing running”

“Good news. I found coffee and canned peas… and the stove works. Still has gas”

“Good” He says “Specially the coffee part”

She gets out of the bed and takes one blanket with her.

“We do need a match” Daisy says “The electronics don’t work”

“I have matches” Grant says and then he sits on the couch. “You know, while I was out there I think I saw rabbits”

“Oh God, I’m not going to eat a rabbit”

“You said you wanted real meat”

“But I’m not ready to kill a rabbit. Maybe we should just go vegetarian. Grow our own stuff and everything”

Grant laughs “You’re going to need to learn how to hunt at some point”

“One day, but that day is not today. Maybe I won’t even live long enough to do it”

“Yeah you will”

Daisy sighs “Do you even want to live in this world?” He doesn’t answer, so she continues “I mean… have you thought about-”

“I have, but not after the outbreak”

She looks down and then Grant speaks again “Is this about tomorrow?” he asks and Daisy just nods “We’ll find them”

“What if we don’t? What if they’re dead? Or- or if they left already?”

He doesn’t really know how to answer to that “I don’t know. But you can’t give up now. The only thing that I know for sure is that you’re not going to be alone; but I don’t know what’s going to happen tomorrow”

Daisy sighs “I don’t even know if it’s right to bring you into this” 

“I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else”

“Thank you” She swallows. She doesn’t want to think about tomorrow, or the fact that he makes her feel like it’s going to be okay, like she’s not going to be alone anymore. “I can only give you the worst coffee that you will ever taste in return”

He smiles “Sounds great”

 

* * *

 

They have a small dinner and then start working on barricading the windows and move the bed to the middle of the cabin, right in front of the furnace.

Daisy starts the fire while Grant goes back outside to set traps just in case they need to be alerted of anyone’s presence, including the dead.

It’s already dark and really cold outside so Daisy sits on the end of the bed as close to the heat and the light as she can get while she waits for him.

She tries to ignore the fact that she starts to worry when he takes too long.

It’s been a week and she’s probably more scared about losing him than anything else and at this point. She doesn’t feel guilty about it anymore.

She runs to the door with a blanket and a flashlight when he gets back.

The cold air hits her when Grant opens the door and she offers him the blanket, which he takes with a smile and a thank you.

“We should get some rest” He says before he blows on his hands. He can barely see her nodding and then he throws the blanket on the couch before he sits.

“Are you going to sleep in there?”

That catches him off guard “Uhm… yeah?”

“Oh… alright. I mean, we shared the bed yesterday? There’s really no problem”

He doesn’t say anything for awhile and Daisy just tries to decipher what’s on his features in the dimly lit cabin.

“It’s just that there’s a couch now, and the bed is smaller”

“Yeah, also colder”

Shit.

She’s glad she can’t really see Grant’s face right now. She quickly adds “I mean, that’s- we…”

“It’s cold” Grant says clearing his throat. “It would be smart to…”

“Yeah, that’s the smart thing to do”

Grant sighs and she can sense his pulse beating faster. She’s glad he doesn’t have her powers because he would be feeling the same thing happening to her.

This bed is a lot smaller than the other one. She can almost feel the warmth that emanates from him where their arms almost touch, and she finds herself craving more of it.

There was a time where the same question would keep her awake at night, if she hadn’t lost her chance at love, if she could have done something to save him from his own demons.

Well, It’s not like she didn’t have her fair share of that.

They lost it… whatever that was, but now she can’t help but wonder if life is giving them another chance.

And yes, she’s scared of hoping and losing again but she definitely doesn’t want to be left alone and wondering what it could have been for the second time.

She’s the one that reaches for his hand, barely touching his fingers. She doesn’t even know if he’s still interested. They’re not the people that they used to be.

But he practically shivers at her touch. He reaches back for her hand until their fingers are intertwined.

“Grant…”

“Still cold?”

“A little”

He turns on his side and then wraps a hand around her middle to pull her closer. She can feel his ragged breath against the skin of her neck and the heath from his body, the firm grip of his arm on her. It feels _so_ good, it makes her feel that living was more than just breathing and barely surviving every day.

“It’s been a long time since I’ve felt anything” She mutters.

She would think that he’s asleep already if she wasn’t feeling his reaction, his whole living, breathing being vibrating in such an intense way that it makes her shiver. In such a quiet word, Grant is the loudest thing that she can feel. She could recognize him from miles.

“And what are you feeling right now?”

She finally turns her head and connects her lips with his. It’s an impulse, but it makes all the pain stop, all the fear goes away as her body starts to take over.

And he kisses her back, moves his hand to her hair and pulls her even closer until they can’t breathe and break apart.

“Skye… I don’t want you to do something that-“

“Daisy” She says and then she kisses him again, pushing him back against the bed and kissing him fervently, his hands going to her hips to hold her in place. It’s almost like there’s a little voice inside his head telling him to stop this (like there’s a voice in her own head) but his body is telling a different story.

The way he grips her waist and moans against her lips betrays him.

“Daisy” He whispers and she can feel him already getting hard against her leg.

“I want this” She whispers, stopping to catch her breath again “Do you?”

“I don’t think that there will ever be a day that I don’t” He admits.

“Then stop thinking” Daisy says before she kisses him again, slower but just as deep and intense as before, pushing her tongue inside his mouth, clawing at the back of his head. She can feel him tugging at her pants and for a moment she hates that they are still wearing so many clothes.

Daisy sits on his lap as she starts taking care of the problem. She takes off his jacket and then his sweater and then proceeds to pull her sweater and a t-shirt over her head.

It’s still cold and the touch of his hands make her shiver. She still feels a little self conscious about her aspect. It makes her feel nervous when she feels his hands on her ribs and his gaze on her body. She’s too skinny, and her boobs have looked fuller. She has some fading bruises and is still wearing a makeshift cast around her left arm. She’s a mess, but Grant doesn’t seem to have a problem with it. He sits with her still on his lap and his mouth lands on her neck as he holds her even tighter. He’s desperately trying to unhook her bra and the feeling of his teeth on her flesh make her moan out loud.

He finally manages to get her naked from her waist up, tossing her bra aside, and then, he just stares at her for a couple of seconds “You’re so beautiful” He says and then cups her face in his hands “You’re the most beautiful woman that I’ve ever seen” then he kisses her softly, and Daisy feels like she’s practically melting in his hands.

She’s not cold anymore, that’s for sure.

Grant moves his lips back to her neck, and his hands to her breasts. He flips her until she’s laying on the bed again before his mouth is on her again, this time hungrier. He takes his time to kiss every inch of her body. He pays special attention to her breasts, licking before he takes a nipple into his mouth hard enough to make her moan his name and pull his hair.

She can feel his hand reaching down for the button of her pants, but she’s too impatient. She guides his hand inside, over the fabric of her underwear.

He grunts when he feels just how wet she is, applying more pressure with his fingers until she starts grinding against his hand “Shit…” he breaths. He’s losing control just by touching her like this.

She bites her lip, because she wants to stop the embarrassing sounds that are coming out of her mouth. She can tell that he’s just as wrecked as she is right now though. “Grant… pants” she manages to say before he can get her off like this, as nice as it feels she wants more than his fingers on her.

He almost jumps out of the bed and pulls down the rest of his clothing. It’s still dark, but her eyes have gotten used to the shadows and she can make out the form of his body. He’s also skinnier than she remembers, but she still finds him incredibly attractive.

Grant sits back on the bed, struggling to get her pants off. It’s hard to concentrate with Daisy squeezing her breasts with her eyes fixed on him.

“Wow…” he says, moving his hand up her leg, when she’s finally naked.

Daisy meets his fingers halfway and places her own hand over his, then she grabs his wrist and guides him until he’s hovering over her. Her hands go to his sides and their eyes lock for a moment before Grant leans down and kisses her again.

It’s slow. He takes his time to deepen the kiss and Daisy lets him. She digs her fingers on his hips to pull him down and she spreads her legs when she feels him against her belly. At this point she’s totally disconnected from reality. There’s no apocalypse outside the cabin. There’s no dead and misery, only the two of them and all the feelings that are quickly resurfacing with his kisses and his touch and his words.

“This is nice” Daisy says against his lips, with her fingers now tangled in his hair.

“It is” He stops and pulls his head back just enough to move her hair off her face.

Then his lips are back on her neck. He continues talking “I’m just the luckiest bastard in the world”

She moans loudly when he pushes a finger inside her, but Grant still notices how she tenses slightly. It doesn’t last though, because in the next second he moves his mouth to her breasts and his fingers move inside her faster until her senses are just overloaded with what he’s doing to her body.

It’s just him. His smell, his skin, the sounds he makes every time she clenches and pushes her hips against his hand.

“Do it…” She pleads “I want- shit!” Daisy arches against him when he removes his hand, but soon she feels him positioning himself between her legs.

He starts slow, only rubbing his dick against her core to elicit another impatient moan from her. Then, when he has coated himself with her own juices he easily slides inside her body, inch by inch as she only digs her nails harder on his legs.

“Oh God, Daisy…” He says against the skin of her neck.

She loves the way he says her name, and the way he keeps whispering it as he starts thrusting into her a little faster.

It’s just the good kind of tight. The right amount of pressure as she adjusts to his size and the way he moves until she’s moving with him, moaning with him, feeling the fine layer of sweat on his back as she holds onto him. “Fuck!” she cries.

“I know” He responds, almost out of breath as he starts picking up pace.

She can tell that he’s doing everything he can to get her off first, as he moves his hand down to stroke her clit with his fingers. And Daisy gets it. It’s been a long time and she really wants to feel it now. She wants to come in Grant’s arms and scream and lose her mind for a second.

She also wants it to last, but they have time for that.

 _Maybe_ they will have time for that.

She places her hands on his chest and then pushes him so they roll to the side and she ends up on top. He’s speechless as she starts riding him just as frantically. His hands go back to her boobs and the way he touches her makes her feel wild and desired and… maybe even loved.

“Oh my God, Grant…” She says when she starts feeling the familiar tingle. It won’t take much longer, so she leans down to kiss him, to feel his strong arms wrap around him and cup her ass to help her move.

“Is the bed shaking?” He manages to ask, a little confused, but it comes out more like a grunt as she sits again and arches over him as her whole body starts trembling.

“Yes… oh… shit” Daisy screams as she moves her hand to touch herself when she starts feeling the first waves of her orgasm. Grant’s hands are gripping her thighs and she can only fall back on his chest while her mind goes blank.

He’s still moving, and still panting with her name on her lips. She can hear him even though she’s not fully aware of reality right now. She just feels _good._ But then he’s cursing and trying to push her off him and she doesn’t want him to.

“No” She moans and then tilts her head up to capture his lips again while holding onto him. With all the strength that she can gather she rolls again, bringing him with her and then wrapping her legs around his waist.

“Daisy…” He insists but she doesn’t let him go. She clenches around him and moves her hips until he tenses in her arms and just lets go. He comes inside her with a loud and very embarrassing grunt that makes her smile. She holds him and sighs every time that he moves and rubs against her sensitive body.

It’s amazing. It’s everything she ever imagined it would be; because she did think about it, back in the day.

Grant is barely recovering his breath and he is already nuzzling her neck. He’s so good with his mouth and that alone almost gets her going again, but she stops him. She’s exhausted.

“I’m going to need a minute” She says.

“Jesus. Me too” He teases but then his tone changes “Daisy… we-“

“Shhh… let’s just not worry about anything, just for a minute” She says, opening her eyes to look at him. He’s smiling at her.

Grant rolls them again so she can rest on his chest and then he pulls the blankets over them, but he doesn’t say anything.

“What?” Daisy asks “I know it was kind of irresponsible”

“Well, yeah. And part of me is waiting to see if you’re are going to freak out”

“Are you going to freak out?”

He shakes his head “No, but maybe you… I don’t know” 

She rests her chin on his chest, still looking at him “I don’t want to freak out tonight. I don’t want to think that there’s a horrible world outside. I’m happy, that’s something I hadn’t felt in a long time. Along with _…_ some other stuff”

Grant smiles and strokes her cheek with his hand “Have I told you how amazing you are?”

She smiles back and just leans forward for another kiss as she feels his hands travelling down her back again.

“I could hear it again”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome to Canada!! things started to heat up even though the weather probably isn't hahahaha guys, we're starting to get close to the end. What's going to happen? are they going to find Fitzsimmons? is it going to end well? It's still the apocalypse, but maybe there's hope right? RIGHT? 
> 
> I don't know, I did make a warning in the beginning, but I'm pretty sure you'll like the ending, or at least most of you hahahah 
> 
> Please tell me your predictions! or your thoughts. Hope you liked this episode, the good knews is that there are more happy times ahead hahaha


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Daisy decides to wait another day before they go to the research lab. She realizes that she doesn't want to risk Grant's life and as they grow closer, they're no longer able to hide the feelings that are resurfacing between them.

She wakes up wrapped in strong, warm arms. Her head tucked under his chin and their legs are intertwined under the (many) blankets and she forgets for a moment that she has to get up and leave. His heart beats strong and steady in his chest and Daisy just loves the way it feels; the way she can feel all of him.

How could it be a mistake? She thinks while she stares at him. He’s beaming, smiling at her the whole time while they pack.

That was one of the things that she was always sure of, the way he cared about her. Everything he did and felt was pretty… intense, and she thinks that explains a lot of things about him. The violence that runs in him, his thirst for revenge; but also his loyalty, his protective side, and even the way he loves. She tried to convince herself that it was just another lie and move on, and she might actually have succeeded; but that doesn’t mean that she can’t have those feelings again herself. She wonders if the same thing is happening to him, after all she wasn’t the only one that got hurt.

And he actually found someone…

“You okay?” Grant asks, picking up the bag with their guns.

“Yeah” Daisy nods. She picks up the rest of their things and follows him to the car.

It’s very early, and she’s quite tired to be honest. She bites her lip to hide a smile when she gets into the car. There are a lot of things that she should be worrying about, but she wants to stay in this blissful state for as long as she can ignore them.

Minutes later no one has said a word. She’s starting to think that being in a car is the problem. Grant looks tense.

“Is this awkward?”

“What?”

“I don’t know. We are always so quiet in the car”

“We have music now” Grant points out.

“Still” Daisy says “I mean we- where are we?”

He opens his mouth but it takes him a few seconds to actually say something “You’re talking about what we… last night-“

“We has sex. It’s just a word, Ward” She teases.

He hesitates again, but finally asks “Do you regret it?”

“Uhm… actually no” She rest her head on her hand, leaning against the door of the car while she stares at him.

“Oh… you… so you don’t regret it?”

She shrugs “Not really”

“Oh… wow” He clears his throat.

“Do you?”

“No! I mean… no” He looks at her “Well, while I don’t regret it, we should be more careful”

“You mean the next time?” She teases and Grant actually blushes. He looks so flustered that it’s adorable. “I know, believe me, I don’t want to get pregnant in the apocalypse”

He looks back at the road “Yeah, no…”

Daisy smiles and then continues talking “It’s not like we’re strangers, you know? But with all the shit that happened in the past, that might have actually been less weird. I mean it wasn’t weird… like, the sex itself wasn’t weird, it was kinda great-“

“Kinda?” Grant mutters

But Daisy just ignores him and continues talking “-I guess what I’m trying to say is that I don’t know where we are now. Like what’s the protocol for people doing it in the apocalypse?”

“Well, you’re clearly not trying to make the drive less awkward”

“Was that a joke?”

“ _Kinda…”_

She chuckles at that “Look, it’s just- it’s us, and I- You said that you felt like the luckiest guy in the world, and that just got me thinking if what happened was just because we were feeling alone, or because maybe we have some unresolved shit-”

“So you do regret it”

“No” She shakes her head “Maybe I’m just trying to figure out what’s going on. It’s not like we’ll get to just date and see where this is going and then I’ll wait for your calls or whatever”

“I actually thought that if we ever got somewhere I was going to be the one waiting for you to call”

Daisy looks at him and just chuckles. “We lived on the same plane” It feels oddly familiar to talk to him like this, like the old days.

“Look, it doesn’t have to be weird” Grant continues “And we can still see where this is going. I didn’t say that I felt lucky just because you’re the last woman in the world, you know? It’s just-“ he sighs “I’m happy that you’re here. _You._ I’m happy to know your name and that we’re both alive and that we had kinda great…sex, and happy about a lot of things right now”

She keeps laughing “That’s a good way to put it”

Grant shrugs “I’m also happy to hear you laugh. I- I missed that” He sighs and tentatively reaches for her hand, which she takes.

“The car is not helping with the awkwardness though” Daisy says, changing the zombie and making Grant smile “I feel like we’re stuck in a shoe box and can’t see a damn thing”

“You could sing again”

“Don’t test me. We haven´t played that Journey album yet”

 

* * *

 

6 hours later, they’re still on the road. They haven’t seen anyone else, it’s just empty streets and green around them… and the occasional zombie walking on the side of the road.

Daisy is in the back seat, covering herself with a blanket and studying a map. “The next town is called Smooth Rock Falls; it should be like less than 10 miles away”

Grant nods but she hears him grunting.

“You okay in there?”

“Yeah”

“You’ve been driving for days, and it’s really cold”

“I’m sorry. The heat is still not working that well”

She rolls her eyes “I’m fine. I’m worried about you. Let me help. I can dr-”

“Daisy, I’m fine. I’ve seen a lot worse than this” He tries to make it sound like a joke but it doesn’t really help, as he can see through the rearview mirror.

"Maybe we should spend the night in that town”

“We can be at the research center before 5. We can make it”

“What if there’s nothing there? It would be dark and we would be stranded in the middle of nowhere”

“They’re going to be there”

“We don’t know that” She insist and she moves between to two front seats “One day is not going to make a difference”

“I promised you that you would be there today”

“Yeah, but I’m not risking your life over a stupid promise!” She sees the corner of his lips curving into a smile “or mine… I mean both of our lives”

“Are you still afraid of what we could find there?”

“Of course I am! At this point I’m terrified about everything. I’m just trying to go for the safest option here. I’m dying to see them, but I don’t want to risk it. I appreciate that you’re trying to cheer me up, and be positive, but Ward… it’s been months”

Grant reaches for her hand that is resting on the back of his seat. “It’s going to be alright. But I understand if you want to wait. You’re right. It would be risky”

“Let’s just find a place here” She says as she sees the blue sign with the name of the town.

Their first stop is the gas station, but they don’t find much, other than medicine that they don’t need and food that’s way past its expiration date and some camping and fishing equipment.

The town is very small and they don’t waste time finding a small house to spend the night. She knows the routine by now.

It’s amazing watching him work. He’s so methodic. She actually helps him this time to set traps outside and secure their room for the night. She can already tell that it’s going to get really cold.

“I have an idea”

Daisy looks at him “Not another one”

“We still got a couple hours and I know exactly what we can do with them” Grant says suggestively.

She raises her eyebrows at him “You do?”

“We’ll have to go back to the gas station first”

Now she frowns.

 

* * *

 

 

“This is really not what I had in mind” Daisy says with her teeth greeting because she’s freezing her ass right now, laying on the ground while Grant aims a hunting rifle.

“What?”

“We’re not going to just catch a rabbit Grant”

“A hare. There’s a difference. And we just have to be patient”

“Damn it” She sighs.

“The trap will work. We just have to shoot quickly because we don’t want to let him suffer”

“We could just not kill him”

“This is an important skill that you need to learn”

“Jesus Ward, you know that you’re not my S.O. anymore right?”

He’s just looking through the scope. He doesn’t even move a muscle. “Well, maybe you’re in luck because I’m a great-“

“Shhh!”

“What?”

“Shut up. I can feel it”

“A zombie?” He finally moves and looks at her. They’re booth lying on their stomachs on the ground.

“No. Smaller, and very much alive. Get ready” She pats his arm and Grant looks through the scope again.

Just seconds later they have a target.

Grant kills it with a precise shot.

“I hope you know how to deal with that mess” Daisy says when they get up.

Grant brings the dead hare and Daisy can’t help but feel bad for the animal. “I know, and I can teach you”

"No thank you. You’ll be doing to cooking tonight” She says as they start walking back to the main road. Daisy crosses her arms trying to feel warmth. “Did they teach all that stuff at the Shield academy?”

Grant looks down “Actually yes. But I had to learn before that”

It doesn’t take her long to put two and to together “With John?”

“I lived in the woods for a long time, when he was getting me ready”

“Woah… like in the _woods_ woods? Out there?”

Grant nods “It wasn’t really that bad. It was better than my family”

“How old were you?”

“17”

Daisy sighs “And you just-”

“If I wanted to eat I had to get my food. I picked up a lot of tricks and survival skills”

“Well, that might be useful today but Garret was still a huge son of a bitch”

“I know”

“We never really talked about it”

“There’s not much to say. He took advantage of me and made me into something that I never wanted to be, but I also made a lot of bad calls along the way”

“You know, I always thought that I could have done more… for you. Maybe a lot of things could have been avoided. I’m really sorry”

“You’re not the one that has to say sorry”

“Already did” She says and then takes his free hand. “Let’s just forget about it”

Grant smiles and kisses the back of her hand “I feel like I can now”

 

* * *

 

They built a campfire in the small yard of the house. Grant still wasn’t sure if it was a good idea but he just wanted to see her smile like that. She’s sitting right in front of the fire, getting her hands warm while he comes back with the hare ready to be roasted in the fire.

“That’s going to smell so dangerously good” Daisy says “Do you think zombies like cooked meat?”

Grant chuckles “I hope not. But it’s still going to smell like meat” 

“You’re scaring me. This is like the third reckless thing that you have done in 24 hours”

“Well, we deserve a nice dinner, not just crackers and peanuts and soup”

"True. Honestly, if a horde of dead people comes tonight, I’m willing to fight them all for this”

Grant laughs “The house is very secure. We’re going to be just fine”

She leans forward “Do you need help with that?”

“It’s alright” He says “Let me take care of you tonight”

Daisy narrows her eyes “Wow… such a gentleman, a nice dinner under the stars. Is this a date Ward?” She teases.

He smiles. She’s onto him. “If you want it to be”

She just looks at him with a big smile on her face and at this point she’s so familiar with the way his pulse races when he’s nervous. “Thank you”

“For the hare?”

“No… well, for the hare but also for making this so much easier, taking my mind off it”

“I’m not doing anything that you’re not doing for me”

Later they are finishing their food in silence, just staring at the fire, which brings back memories that she’s been trying to forget, like the base burning, the people she loved screaming and turning.

“Grant, do you ever think about her?” Daisy asks suddenly, catching him a bit off guard “Kara…”

He avoids her eyes “Sometimes. I mean, she deserved a lot better”

Daisy hesitates for a second before she continues “You know, I met someone too. He was a really good guy. We never really- We didn’t have enough time, but I think I could have fallen in love with someone like him. His name was Lincoln. He was at the base because I wanted him to join Shield. Sometimes I think that maybe he could have survived if he hadn’t met me”

“There’s no way to know that”

“He blew himself up to give me a chance to climb out of the hangar”

Grant reaches for her hand “Things got pretty bad outside of the base too, you know? People died everywhere, it wasn’t fair for anyone. And if he did what he did, I’m sure he didn’t regret it”

She nods “Yeah. Maybe if the world hadn’t ended things could have worked, or not… who knows?” She looks down she doesn’t even know what she’s trying to say with this story “He deserved better too”

Grant hesitates for a second but then he speaks again “I loved Kara”

“Oh”

“But that was _different_ ” His choice of words catches Daisy’s attention. She waits for him to continue “I felt like I still had control it was just… easier” then he looks art her.

“Easier, as opposed to us” Daisy says.

“It’s always been different with us” He adds, looking at her.

She remembers him saying that before, the day that everything ended. The day that he broke her heart.

“Nothing easy about that, huh?”

“I know that we can’t just pick up where we left of, but maybe we can try. We’re still here”

Daisy sighs “We are”

“Let’s just see what happens this time, maybe I won’t screw everything up”

Her lips curve up slightly “It wasn’t just you”

“Well, as fucked up as it sounds, maybe this could be our second chance”

It’s just the same thing that she’s been thinking, but it’s still scary. It’s like every day he makes it easier to forget about their past and she doesn’t know if that’s right. And there’s the fact that she’s scared of losing again.

But she doesn’t want to be afraid anymore.

Daisy looks at him “It is. It’s crazy that it took the world to end for us to...” she doesn’t really know how to describe it.

“Well, you did say that you didn’t want to believe that there was nothing left in the world, nothing good… maybe this could be good”

She smiles at him in a teasing manner “You and I? the last good thing in the world?”

He smiles back “Let’s just see where it takes us”

She bites her lip.

 

* * *

 

 

By the time they reach the bedroom they have already taken off their coats and Daisy is working on his sweater, but there is another t-shirt under it.

“Damn it” She mutters against his lips. Grant is carrying her to the bed and she has her legs wrapped around his waist “So many clothes” Daisy protests.

Grant keeps walking until they are right next to the bed, and then she places Daisy in the middle.

She groans when his mouth leaves hers. Grant smiles while he sits on the bed to remove his boots and pants.

Daisy does the same “This might take a while” she jokes when she pulls her sweater and a tank top over her head.

“It’s chilly” Grant says rubbing his hands together.

“Then come here” Daisy says and then throws her bra at him.

In one swift move he’s back on her, his lips crashing against hers and his whole body rubbing against her skin. She’ll never get tired of that feeling, the closeness, the way she can feel his heart beating faster, his whole being shaking with longing and anticipation.

Daisy cups his face with her hands and then wraps her legs around him again, only with the need to feel him even closer, to feel all that force beating against her.

“I can feel you”

Grant stops kissing her with a smile still on his face “Yeah, well…”

“Not that. I mean, also that, but… just _you_ ” She says, still trying to catch her breath, then she moves her hand to his heart with her eyes still closed “It’s amazing”

“With your powers?” He asks and Daisy nods.

“Any form of life, it’s almost like I can hear it. But you’ve been the loudest thing since you found me”

He strokes her cheek softly “It’s incredible”

“It feels incredible” She says and then opens her eyes again and then moves her head up to kiss him again.

Grant makes these little sounds that make her smile. She’s very aware of the fact that this is still irresponsible and that, at some point, they have to stop, but she can help it. The contact is addictive. She wants to feel him again.

This time the rush is gone. It’s not new or tentative. He’s taking his time. He’s trying to map her body, running his hands all over her skin and memorizing the pleased sounds that she makes when he hits the right places.

He sucks the skin of her neck and Daisy guides his hands to her breasts. He was always a good multitasker.

But so is she. Her hand reaches down for his dick. He’s hard and ready for her but Grant insists on keep the foreplay going “Daisy…” he mutters when she closes her fist around him.

“What?” She asks, still pumping him and smiling when Grant thrusts his hips into her hand. She knows just how good that feels when he’s inside her. She’s getting impatient.

“You’re going to drive me crazy” He kisses her again with a smile on his lips. Daisy feels his hand over her hip as he positions himself between her legs. “You’ve been pretty much doing that since the moment I met you”

She sighs when he finally slides inside her, arching her head against the mattress “You kidnapped me”

Grant laughs against her skin, his breath tickling the skin of her neck.

“That’s the one bad thing that I did that I’ll never regret” He says with his eyes meeting hers.

Daisy moves her hands up chis chest until she wraps her arms around his neck. She pulls him down to kiss him, holding him tightly when starts to pick up pace, and as she feels his chest pressed against her she realizes that she doesn’t want to let him go.

Grant sets the rhythm and Daisy follows, planting her feet back on the bed and moving her hips in perfect coordination with his.

She can only hear grunts coming out of him, and something that sounds like her name and maybe that he needs more, or that’s probably her voice, she’s not sure. She just wants him to go harder. She’s close and she want to feel it again. She wants to come in his arms and moaning his name while he holds her.

This time the bed definitely shakes when it hits her, but Grant doesn’t stop, he keeps thrusting harder and faster into her until he’s with her, shaking and grunting with his head buried against her neck and his heart beating so loudly. It makes her smile.

She protests when Grant moves and leaves the bed, but soon he’s back with blankets that he uses to cover them both. Then he pulls her against his chest again without saying a word.

“You’re so warm” Daisy says, tracing the ridges of his abs with her fingernails. She always wanted to do it, and now she can touch all of him. It feels as great as she always imagined it.

“You need to sleep. Tomorrow’s going to be a big day”

She smiles when he wraps her tightly in his arms.

“I’m happy that you’re going to be there with me”

“Always” He says and kisses the top of her head.

He wouldn’t admit it to her but he’s also nervous. He has witnessed her heart break before. He would know. He was the one that hurt her and he knew how afraid she was to hope for things, and now she has all of her hopes in this. Fitz and Simmons are what’s left of her family, and he doesn’t even care that they will hate him, or that the last time that he saw Simmons she actually tried to kill him. He just wants them to be alive for her. She needs them, and he would do anything to protect her heart from breaking again.

Yes, he did move on, he found something good and new, but it was never like this. The way he loves her is the kind of love that simply can’t die, even if the rest of the word did.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't you just love the calm before the storm? hahaha thank you guys for reading! I settled for writing 8 chapters for this one. We're super close to the end and in the next one Grant and Daisy finally find the lab, but will they find Fitz and Simmons?
> 
> Please share your thoughts as always :) and thank you for reading!


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After a long trip and making more progress in their relationship, Daisy and Grant finally find the lab where Fitz and Simmons are supposed to be, but will they find them in there?

Daisy wakes him up when she tries to get out of the bed the next morning, but Grant just pulls her into his arms again, making her squeal as she loses her balance.

“Where are you going” He says kissing her shoulder.

“Sorry tiger, but we need to get ready”

“You did this yesterday as well, are you hiding from me?”

“No…” She says but she still tenses in his arms.

“Something’s wrong with you”

She sighs “It’s stupid, I mean… a few years ago I was all for the naked in broad daylight thing, but maybe not so much these days”

Grant frowns. He makes her roll to face him “Why?”

She cups his face “I appreciate all the nice words in the heat of passion. Great ego boosy, really; but I’ve seen myself in the mirror”

“Yeah. You’re skinnier, your muscles have lost definition and your arm has some bruises; that just means that you need to eat better and recover from your injuries, not that you’re not beautiful”

“Ward-”

“I told you the day I met you, remember? We… did have a truth serum”

She almost rolls her eyes “Yeah I know that”

“Well, I wasn’t just stunned by the serum. I was not lying then and I’m not lying now” He says and then he gets out of the bed. She instinctively covers herself with a blanket but Grant stands naked next to the bed. He offers his hand to her.

“I think it’s too cold for us to be doing this”

“Tell me about it. You do know that it’s not this small all the time, right?” He says and Daisy almost smiles after taking a quick peek at him. She sighs but finally takes his hand and he pulls her out of the bed. “There you go. You are absolutely beautiful, there’s no way I can look at you and not want you like crazy” He says digging his fingers in her hair and pulling her for a passionate kiss that almost leaves her out of breath. “In fact I might need to stop this now, because I can’t always control myself around you” He says against her lips.

It takes her a second to remember what she wanted to say “And we do need to get ready”

Grant nods, still smiling down at her. “We do. Big day ahead”

He doesn’t waste his opportunity to smack her ass when she walks to grab her clothes.

“Okay, you made your point” She says.

 

* * *

 

“Wait” Daisy says when they are about to get out of the house.

“What?”

“There’s something out there”

“Alive or dead?”

“Dead” She says.

“Those powers of yours are amazing” Grant says before he gets a large knife ready.

“I recall you used to say that powers were cheating?”

“It’s the apocalypse. It’s only fair to cheat a little bit” He smiles before he opens the door.

Daisy follows him, gun in hand.

There’s nothing in the front of the house, so they go to the back where Grant left the car. They see just one zombie banging against the door as if he was trying to get inside.

“I got this”

“Be careful” She says as he goes to kill it. The monster doesn’t even notice as Grant approaches and skillfully stabs his neck with the knife.

It’s not that old, so it’s still strong and harder to kill. It turns around, trying to bite Grant but he places his hand on its neck and pushes it against the truck so he can stab it through the eye.

“Okay” Grant says with a grunt, but when he turns to see Daisy, there’s another one coming at her “Daisy!!” He yells and runs as fast as he can.

She was too focused on Grant, trying to see if he needed any help to notice it in time. The monster attacks, crazy with hunger and she can only try to cover herself with her forearm.

It bites her through the fabric of her jacket and Daisy ends up falling to the ground as the zombie grows desperate, trying to taste her flesh.

“Shit” She says and then places her free hand on its forehead, trying to get it off her. She can hear Grant but she can’t wait any longer. She lets out a small but powerful seismic wave with her right hand and its head all but cracked in an instant.

“Oh my God. Daisy!” Grant grabs the corpse and tosses it to the side before he kneels next to her “Are you okay?”

“That was gross” She says. She got some blood on her and there’s this gooey slime on the spot where he tried to bite her. “And scary. So scary” She’s still panting while grant checks her arm.

“It’s okay. You’re okay. It didn’t get you”

“I should have been more careful. I was distracted” She says, trying to clean her sleeve against the grass “I guess having powers doesn’t always work”

He helps her getting up and then they walk back to the car “We should get out of here”

“What if this was a bad sign?” Daisy asks when Grant drives off.

“It wasn’t a bad sign. Just don’t scare me like that again”

She shakes her head “It’s easy to forget that we’re still living in this hell”

“What matters is that we’re still _living_ , and we’re going to find Fitz and Simmons now. It’s going to be fine”

“I’m happy that you’re here with me”

“Well, maybe you’re going to be the only one”

She sighs “I’ve thought about it. But it’s been a long time, they have to understand”

“I’m okay if they don’t. I hurt them. I just want you to reunite with your family”

She grabs his hand “Let’s not worry about that now, but if they have anything to say… they’ll just have to suck it up” that makes him smile "They will understand"

 

* * *

 

Now it’s where it gets a little complicated. They left the main route and started driving through the forest. The facility should be pretty well hidden. They stop the car to check the map.

“This should be the Moose River. We’re not that far”

Grant takes the map and the piece of paper where she has the coordinates written down. “It’s still closer to the bay. See, there’s a small town there. We need to go west, about 150 miles, maybe less”

“I knew it was a bad sign” Daisy says when he starts the car again.

“Daisy…”

“Seriously, it was this calm before the storm kind of thing. Then the zombies that almost ate my face this morning-”

“It wasn’t a sign. We started a fire and cooked meat and it attracted two of them”

She sighs “The lab is gonna be hard to find though”

“We can do it, and if we don’t we’ll just drive to Moosonee and try again tomorrow”

“Yeah, you’re good at tracking people down”

“Only when I really want to find them”

She smiles but soon her expression changes. Something catches her attention.

“What?” Grant asks.

“Is that normal?l” She says, looking at a large group of zombies standing in the forest.

“The fact that there are so many or the fact that they are not moving?”

“Both” She says “Go that way”

Grant keeps driving and soon they find more undead, just standing, they don’t even try to attack the slow moving car.

“It’s almost like they are hibernating” Grant says.

"Or waiting, because they found something” She looks at him “Maybe we should just come back with a plan”

“Daisy, it’s ok. We don’t-“

And then the car jumps and they hear a small explosion.

“Shit” Grant says.

“Was that a tire?”

And then a zombie starts banging against her door, attracting more and more of them as they start to wake up after the commotion.

“Drive!” Daisy yells.

Grant drives faster, but it’s not that easy to steer the car with a flat tire and the terrain, while still trying to not hit a tree.

“I could-“ Daisy starts.

“No!”

The car shakes as they are attacked by the dead, which makes Grant lose control. “Damn it”

“Grant wait!”

He stops the car as Daisy tries to see through the small slit on the window “I think that’s a fence”

He starts the car again “We can go that fast or this thing is going to turn upside down”

“Just keep driving” She says.

The truck keeps shaking as he hits some of the corpses. Now he can see the fence around a small bunker “that must be the entrance, the rest should be underground”

“What if there’s no one there, who’s gonna open the door?”

"We’re here. We have to try” He says, looking at here.

“You can’t die for this, Grant”

“I won’t, and neither will you” He reassures her, but Daisy doesn’t look so convinced.

That’s when they hear the alarms, it sounds like a warning, and then huge automatic guns rise up from the ground.

He places his hand on her back and pushes her down “Stay down!”

Grant yells and then all they hear is the rapid fire from the guns. The car is heavily reinforced, but she’s not sure if it can actually take it.

“I can take them down. I can-“

Grant just drives faster towards the bunker, but eventually the bullets hit another tire and he completely loses control of the car. She can feel everything spinning, and she’s not sure if this alone can kill them. Grant is trying to protect her with his body, and she remembers that day when Agent Calderon tried to shoot her. She was terrified, alone, she didn’t know how to use her powers back then, but she certainly does now.

She grabs Grant by his jacket and pulls him into a tight embrace when the truck flips in the air. She raises her right hand and then lets it all out. It almost feels like they’re floating while the earth around them rumbles and shakes violently. Grant looks at her incredulously. The car is upside down but she emitted some kind of field of force that cushioned their fall.

Grant is on top of her, and it takes him a second to take in what just happened. She’s breathing heavily and now she probably hurt her good arm, but they’re both alive.

For now.

A small explosion brings her back to reality. The car is in pretty bad shape. She cracked all the windows and they don’t have door anymore. Grant is already getting up.

“Are you okay? What just happened?”

“I’m fine”

“You saved us” Grant continues, touching her face and it hurts. Maybe she wasn’t fast enough and she actually hit her head with something.

"We need to get out of here”

“I got it” He says and then grabs the closest gun. A lot of their things just flew out of the car and everything is a mess around them.

“No! Ward!”

Daisy begs, but he’s already getting out of the car.

“Grant!” She needs to move. She grabs another gun and starts crawling out of the door like he just did.

“You need to see this”

She hears him, and she has not heard any gun shots. Grant kneels down in front of her and helps her get up on her feet, which is when she actually sees it.

The aftermath around them is devastating. It was exactly like that time in the woods, maybe not that bad, but she still took down a big chunk of trees, and with them, dozens of zombies that now are nothing but limbs and puddles of blood on the ground.

“Holy shit” She breathes, and then she feels Grant cupping her face again.

“I think you hit your head”

“Grant, we’re not safe yet. I have to get it open I-“

“Calm down” He says, placing his hands on her shoulders, but then they hear a loud screech and the door of the bunker opens for them. “Okay… it seems like everything worked out”

Daisy looks at him and then back at the obliterated area of the woods around them. “There could be more”

"Which is why we need to get in now. You’re still in shock and we need to check you for injuries”

She's still a little disoriented, but focusing on him is helping, his voice, his hands on her face. She nods.

“You saved us” Grant repeats and then looks back at the wreck of what used to be their car, now practically unrecognizable without any doors and deformed from the force of her power “You did good, come on” then he takes her hand.

Inside the small bunker they only find an office and an elevator, the structure also looks in pretty bad shape… her fault, but it still works. The door automatically closes when they’re inside and they step inside the elevator.

Grant pulls her into his arms. “Feeling better?”

“I thought we were going to die for sure”

“I told you we wouldn’t, and someone opened the door for us. You know what that means”

She pulls away and looks at him. She’s scared again, but for a different reason entirely. She doesn’t want to get her hopes up before she actually sees them.

“Let’s just focus on the fact that we didn’t die” Daisy says.

The elevator is really slow, and it takes him forever to actually come to a stop. She’s nervous. She’s shaking, and she’s kinda starting to feel the pain from before.

When the door opens she sees her.

For a split second she also sees relief on her face. She sees hope, and joy; but then she steps back when she sees _him._

“Jemma” Daisy says. This is not the moment for that. She just wants to hug her and make sure that this is real.

And Simmons seems to come to the same conclusion, she looks back at her and sobs when she says her name “Daisy…” She runs to her arms and holds her tightly. “Oh my God, Daisy”

“I thought that I was never going to see you guys again” Daisy whispers and her voice almost cracks. “I’m so happy to see you”

“I knew it was you when I felt the quake. It had to be you. I’m sorry, the security protocols activate automatically when something approaches at a fast speed I didn’t-“

Daisy finally pulls away “It’s okay. I’m okay. Where’s Fitz?”

But Jemma is already looking at Ward again “What is he doing here? Where are the others? The team…”

Daisy shakes her head “Jemma… I know it’s probably something you were not expecting but he’s helping. It’s- It’s really a long story but he found me after-“ Daisy looks down “I’m sorry, I couldn’t stop it I-“

“I understand” Jemma whispers with a soft voice, her expression changing into something that Daisy can't quite read.

“Ward saved my life. I wouldn’t be here without him” Daisy says but it’s like she’s not even listening “Simmons!” Daisy insists and she finally looks at her.

“He saved my life once as well. He still tried to kill me later”

“Simmons” Grant speaks “I’m sorry. I know that I’m probably the last person that you wanted to see but I only wanted to help Daisy find you. I… have a lot to say”

“Ward. Not now” Daisy says.

Jemma rolls her eyes “Yeah, preferably not now”

Daisy continues “This is not the time to be thinking about what happened in the past, please. We’re here, and we’re alive and, out there is… hell. Please just try”

Simmons sighs “Yeah, perhaps you’re right” then she looks at Ward “And you both need medical attention. Just come with me”

“Thank you” Daisy says, grabbing Jemma’s hand.

 

* * *

 

Jemma brings them to the medical area, and while they’ve been here they have not seen a single soul, and the place is very big. Daisy knows that Grant is thinking about that too, judging by the way he seems to be assessing the facility and trying to hear or see anything other than them.

“I can’t believe they’re gone” Simmons says as she searches for the medical supplies. Daisy can see that her hands are shaking “Well, I suppose it was to be expected. At this point I don’t think I still believed that I was going to see any of you again”

“It happened shortly after communications went down. We had a power shortage and the base went into lockdown. I couldn’t even use my powers because I could have brought the whole place down” She swallows and pauses for a moment. Every time she thinks about it almost feels like she’s living it again “Sometimes I think that I should have. I had to watch all of them die”

Jemma doesn’t say anything for a few seconds “How did you get out?”

“Lincoln” Daisy simply says “It was just wrong you know? Like suddenly everyone decided that my life was most important than theirs”

“I think that any of us would give their lives for the others, at least some of us”

Daisy looks at Grant and decides to change the subject “Coulson said that I had to find you, that I could make a difference”

“Well, from a practical point of view… you do have powers”

“But so far they’ve only worked to save myself”

“You just saved me out there” Grant speaks again “And the world is not completely dead yet, maybe we can find more people out there after this-“

“More people out there” Jemma scoffs “We did the math, at the rate that the virus spread, during a whole year, we should be down to 2 to 4% of the population by now. That’s about 140 to 200 million people-“

“200 million is still a lot of people”

“Yeah… in the whole world. In densely populated areas the virus was harder to control.  Places like the United States shouldn’t have more than 6 or 7 million people left, that’s less than the amount of people that lived in New York City before the outbreak. Are you going to find them, Ward?”

Daisy grabs Jemma’s hand, it’s shaking again. “I’m sorry” Jemma says “It’s just facts”

“Maybe let’s not think about that for now” Daisy says looking at Grant, then she turns back to Simmons “So where’s Fitz anyway?” Daisy asks and then Jemma pulls her hand back.

“Oh. He’s down at the quarantine Lab. We’ve been pretty busy lately” She says and then starts checking Daisy’s head. “You probably won’t need any stitches. Let’s just clean the wound first, shall we?” Simmons finishes with a smile.

Grant frowns at the sudden change of mood.

“I feel fine” Daisy says.

“Check her arms” Ward says.

“What happened? Where are your gauntlets?”

“I… probably out there with the rest of our stuff. They were broken anyway”

“You know you can’t control it properly without them” Simmons says and then proceeds to remove Daisy’s jacket.

But then Simmons freezes “Were you bitten?” She says when she finds a small mark on the sleeve.

“No. Well, yeah, but have my arm wrapped in this” Daisy says lifting her left arm “It didn’t touch me”

 “Oh thank God” Then Simmons proceeds to unwrap Daisy’s arm. “Your right arm seems fine, the left one…”

“I know. I fucked it up pretty badly. I’m just recovering, but I haven’t been able to use my powers, not until today anyway”

“I wouldn’t rule out a CT scan, just to be sure. Does it hurt still?”

Daisy nods “A little”

“Remember. The more you have to focus and control your energy the harder it gets for your body to handle it. Most of that energy gets absorbed by your bones”

“I know. Today I didn’t hold back”

“I could tell” Simmons sighs “We may have something for that, maybe we could use a real cast on your arm, but you’re going to be fine” then she looks at Ward “What about you?”

“I’m good. I just got a few cuts and bruises. Just take care of Daisy”

“Okay” she presses her lips together in her best attempt at a genuine smile and then turns back to Daisy “This will only take a minute and then I’ll give you a small tour, show you were you can stay and maybe find you some new clothes, okay?”

Daisy nods “I wouldn’t mind a shower”

“Oh we have that here. You’re gonna be just fine”

 

* * *

 

She shows them the rest of the medical area, different labs for virology, physics and biology studies, the common room, kitchen, even the quarters, but there’s still no sign of other people. Daisy just has to ask “Jemma, why haven’t we seen anyone else here?”

Simmons stops in her tracks “Because there’s no one else”

“Woah… what about other scientists? And Stark? He brought you here”

Jemma finally turns around to face them, she’s still trying to force that smile but it just looks less and less convincing “Oh. He did. But he left about six months ago, and after he left the others just followed”

“Everyone?” Grant asks

“No, Ward. We also had quite a few… containment accidents, and people trying to break in that ended badly. I assume it was just hard for most of them. The isolation, not knowing what was going on out there with their families and loved ones” Jemma sighs and then just turns around and keeps walking.

Daisy and Grant follow her again, but they still have more questions.

But she continues “Everyone felt safe when Iron Man was still here. That didn’t help, when he left. I think he lost hope, like everyone else did. He lost hope that we were going to be able to fix it. He decided to spend the rest of his days with someone that mattered more than the rest of the world for him. I can’t blame him for that”

“Simmons…” Daisy finally interrupts her “But you- you didn’t lose hope. You said you and Fitz were busy working on something”

Jemma stops in front of one door and then opens it “We probably did, but this is the only thing that we know. We can’t be out there, fighting and kicking ass We couldn’t fly a quinjet and leave this place, not like we had anywhere to go”

 “What about resources? Energy? Grant asks and Simmons scoffs at that.

“This place runs on arc reactor technology. It’s never going to run out of energy, at least not in this lifetime. And we had food and provisions for at least 5 years with a full team of 32 people, I don’t think we’re going to have a problem with that”

Daisy and Grant share a look.

“But you’re still alone in here” Daisy says.

“I would have been alone out there as well”

Daisy frowns at her choice of words, but before she can say anything else Simmons speaks again “Here I’m doing what I can do. Maybe it won’t lead anywhere but I have the rest of my life to try. We actually made some progress in the last couple of months”

“With a cure?” Grant inquires, but it only earns him another angry look from Simmons. She doesn’t answer.

“You can sleep in here” She points him in the direction of the room “You’ll find clean clothes in there as well"

Grant nods.

“Come with me, Daisy”

The girls leave him and then keep walking, not to the next room like Daisy expected.

“I’m sorry” Daisy finally says “I know this is probably weird”

“Weird is not the expression that I would choose”

“He’s- I know. I remember everything that he did, but I know that he could have been better. And he’s proven himself in the last few days”

“In the last few days? You can’t just trust him, Daisy”

“Then who should I trust? Because I have found a few of those 6 million people left and half of them tried to kill me. He actually helped me”

“Because he’s so selfless, right?” Jemma says and then stops in front of another door. She gives the key to Daisy “Just be careful Daisy. I know that you’re smart and you can take care of yourself, but he knows how to manipulate, and lie”

“Yeah, like we were all trained to do. There’s just no reason to do it anymore. Look, Jemma I love you, I don't want to make you uncomfortable but it's not like I'll kick him out. I owe him. Just… tolerate him, okay? ”

“I will. At least I’ll try” Jemma says and then Daisy hugs her “See you in the cafeteria in a couple hours?”

They break their embrace and Daisy nods. “I’ll just take the longest shower in the history of humanity”

Jemma smiles. The first genuine smile that Daisy has seen since they got here. She missed that.

“And please” Daisy adds “Give a heads up to Fitz. I know it’s going to be hard for him as well”

“I will” Jemma says and then leaves.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Simmons gives Grant and Daisy a tour of the lab, but he just grows suspicious at Jemma's erratic behavior. Meanwhile, Daisy tries to figure out how to handle her relationship with Grant in front of her friends.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey!!! How are you guys??? Sorry, I just had to make some changes because I'm not 100% sure about how to end this... I'm probably still not sure hahahaha please enjoy!

After a very long shower and changing into fresh, clean clothes, Daisy gets out of her room and goes straight to Grant’s.

He opens when she knocks. His hair is still wet, he smells like soap and Daisy would be lying if she said that she isn’t having a few dirty thought right now, but that’s exactly the reason why she’s here in first place. She has something important to ask.

“Looking good” She teases and he steps aside to let her walk inside his room. He closes the door.

“Feeling a lot better” He changed into a pair of gray sweatpants and a black hoodie, not that different from what she found in her room, everything branded with the Stark Industries emblem.

But there, just under the logo on his right thigh, she sees a small red stain.

“Is that blood?”

Grant looks down “It’s nothing”

Daisy thinks for a second before it clicks “You got shot”

“It barely grazed me”

She sighs “You need to stop with the though guy act. Let me see, take your pants off”

“Here?” He says in a teasing tone.

“Come on, Ward”

He sighs and pushes his pants down just enough for her to see, it’s not that deep and he did his best to clean it and wrap it with the ripped fabric of the old t-shirt that he was wearing before “I told you. It’s just a flesh wound. I took care of it”

“You could have died. We could have died, you know?”

“And you could have hurt yourself”

“You already heard Simmons, when I don’t hold back is not that bad” 

“Yeah I heard that. I also heard everything that she had to say about me”

“Well, it took some getting used to with me. Maybe she’ll warm up to you”

“I get it, and I really don’t care if she doesn’t, but that’s not what’s bothering me”

“I knew you were going to say something like this”

“Come on. It’s weird. Just her and Fitz here, and she’s just acting… not normal. I know this is great, that you find them. But you have to know that something is not right”

She places her hands on her hips “I don’t even know what’s normal anymore, Grant. There are zombies out there. Clearly there’s something off with Jemm,a but she’s been locked up in here for almost a year. Have you seen this place? Anyone would go a little crazy. It’s a huge, creepy lab”

“You said it yourself, out there it was hell. We didn’t go crazy”

She raises her eyebrows “I have my doubts sometimes” then she looks at him “It’s just weird, and awkward, and she kinda hates you. Just give her time to adjust, which leads me to… maybe we should like, keep our distance… as in from each other”

Grant looks down. He’s not surprised “What? You don’t want her to find out that you’re sleeping with the bad guy because you went a little crazy in the apocalypse”

“Wow… you really just spun that on me? Not cool”

Then his eyes meet hers again “Look, I understand. I was expecting you to say this, and I’m okay with it. I just want to make this as easy as possible for you. The only thing I’m asking you is to be careful”

“With Fitzsimmons? They _are_ Fitzsimmons”

“With everything. At least until we find out more about this place and what really went down here, okay?”

She nods “Okay. I promise you I’ll ask more questions when I can. I just want to have like a nice moment for a bit, you know? I just found them, and it’s safe here. It’s been a long time since I could just take a breather”

“I get it. I’m sorry”

“Wow, look at us…. Talking shit over and everything” She says and she sees a hint of a smile on his face. “So, can you do it? just keep our… whatever this is between us for a bit”

“Of course I can… I mean, at least in front of them,” he says and than takes a step, getting a little closer.

She smiles and then rises on her toes until she can kiss him. It’s actually the first time that they are just kissing like this, just her lips on his and his hands o her waist with no other motivations. It’s really easy to lose the battle against passion, but this feels important in a different way, because she has control the whole time, she’s enjoying it and wrapping her arms around his neck affectingly. She feels joy and she wants to just keep kissing him.

And Grant is exactly on the same page right now. He doesn’t need more; he just relaxes in her arms and waits for her to stop the kiss.

 

* * *

 

 

Daisy doesn’t miss the way Simmons stares at them in the kitchen when they arrive together.

She’s waiting for them with a box with more clothes and toiletries.

“Did you find everything alright?” She asks.

“Yeah. Thanks Jemma. This is really great, I mean a bit lonely but there’s a hot shower” Daisy jokes but she barely sees Jemma smiling “I mean out there-“

“I understand” Jemma cuts her off “I’m glad you’re comfortable here. I already showed you the kitchen but here we have the pantries and fridges. Almost all the food is frozen or dehydrated. The top drawers have all the non-perishables. You can see the refrigerators on the right and there are snacks in the bottom. Everything inside the refrigerators you only have to heat up. Each tray is a full meal but it’s not like we need to ration, do we?”

“Okay…” Daisy says “Are you not going to eat with us?”

Simmons glances at grant for a split second “I can’t. But don’t worry. I’ll show you how everything in here works and what we have in storage so you can be comfortable”

“I would like to go out” Grant interrupts.

“What?” Simmons asks dryly.

“Sorry, but there’s a lot of our- the things that we brought with us. Guns, clothes, maps and-“

Simmons taps the boxes that she has on one of the metallic tables “I got you new clothes, even for you, and I don’t think we’re going to need guns in here, Ward”

Daisy clears her throat “Right, but at some point we’re going to get out. Jemma someone could find this place and they’re also going to find an arsenal out there”

Jemma still looks indecisive, a little on edge “Still. It’s not safe”

“Daisy took down most of the-“

“It’s not safe, Ward! You’re not going to get us all killed!” Jemma yells.

Daisy and Grant just look at each other without knowing what to do or say. She can read it in his eyes. He doesn't like this.

“Can we talk for a minute?” Jemma surprises them when she speaks calmly again.

Daisy looks at Grant and then at Simmons “Sure” she follows her to one of the big pantries while Grant leaves with a no-conform sigh. She only speaks when they are alone “What’s up?”

“I… don’t think it’s a good idea to have Fitz and Ward together in a room”

“Did you tell him? Where is he?”

“I told him, but things with Fitz-”

“Is everything okay?”

“Well it was, until you showed up her with Grant Ward”

“Jemma…”

“I’m sorry. I said I would try, and I’m trying. There’s just something about his face” Jemma scoffs.

“I know, but I wouldn’t even be here without him. He’s trying to be better… I think”

“Yeah, like he always is” She sighs “Just be careful. He’s always tried to manipulate you, and he’s very good at that”

“I’m fine. Now what I want to know is if everything is okay with _you_ ”

“Yes. I just have a lot of things in my mind right now. Fitz never leaves the lab and we-“

“Why? I thought you said that there was no cure. What are you doing down there?”

“There is no cure. When a person turns is only after they are dead, and there’s no cure for death, is it? We could try to cure the virus, but that’s not going to be more effective than a simple bullet to the head. The infection on the other hand…”

“The bite?”

Simmons nods “I believe there could be a way to make humanity immune to the virus. I mean, people could still die from the infection, because the bite in itself is terribly dangerous; but at least the contagion would stop and they wouldn’t be multiplying exponentially”

“And does it work?”

“I don’t know, there’s still only one way to test it”

“Don’t you have like lab rats or something?”

“We… ran out of those. So I had to go straight to human trials”

Daisy freezes “What do you mean? What humans?”

Jemma chuckles “Oh Jesus, Daisy. I didn’t kill the rest of the scientists here. I took the vaccine”

“Isn’t it dangerous? You’re basically injecting yourself with the virus”

“What other option did we have? But I could only run some tests with blood samples”

“That’s kinda fucked up, you know that?”

Simmons starts laughing. Daisy looks at her.

“I’ve missed you” Jemma says and then grabs Daisy’s hand.

And Daisy knows that Grant is right. She can feel that something is not right, but the truth is that she also missed them. She’s just so happy to be able to hold Jemma’s hand like this and having her in front of her. She smiles “Can I see Fitz? He won’t have to deal with Ward, I promise”

“Of course. I’ll let you know when that’s possible”

“Okay…”

“But for now, we should take care of that arm. Meet me in the medical area in 20 minutes? Is that okay?

“Oh… sure, yeah”

Then Jemma gives Daisy and hug. It feels nice. It makes her want to ignore all the alarms going off in her head.

 

* * *

 

 

She goes back to Ward’s room a couple of hours later, and she finds him looking a little anxious.

“Hey” She says when she gets in, carrying the boxes that Jemma gave her. Grant immediately stands up to help her. “Thanks”

“Where were you?”

Daisy raises her left arm, now wrapped in a real cast. “Jemma scanned my arm, took a couple of blood samples, checked my head. I’m good. You’re not getting rid of me just yet”

“And what about Simmons?”

“What about her?”

“I don’t know? Did she say anything or do anything?”

“Okay. I’ll admit it. She gives off this mad scientist vibe sometimes”

Grant nods “I tried to check the exits or the elevator but it’s impossible to get them open. There must be a control room or something, but I’m sure you can get in if we find a tablet or a laptop”

“Woah, hold on. It’s not like we have to run out of here. We don’t even have a car”

“Daisy, we need to talk about this. We’re not going to just stay locked up here for the rest of our lives”

“We just got here today. Calm down, okay? Whatever is wrong with Jemma we will figure it out”

“Before or after I wake up with a scalpel against my neck?”

Daisy sighs “You did not just say that. If someone should have trust issues here it shouldn’t be you”

“Right! Because _I_ betrayed you! At least I didn’t shoot you in the back!”

“Fuck you, Ward” then she starts to leave.

“Daisy! Wait… I’m sorry” Grant says grabbing her arm before she’s out the door.

“No, it’s okay. I’m painfully aware of all the shit that happened in the past, you don’t need to remind me”

“That’s what I’m scared of”

“Why don’t we just clear our heads, okay? We can talk about it tomorrow”

“I thought that we could… just spend the night together?”

“We talked about it. I’m not risking it”

“That Fitz and Simmons find out about us. Right”

“I’m not even sure if there’s an us yet, Ward. Now that we’re here and safe, maybe we should take things slow. We’ve been pretty reckless so far”

He looks down “Okay” and then finally lets go of her arm.

“Goodnight Ward”

“Goodnight”

 

* * *

 

 

She’s not feeling better after that fight. Without Grant by her side the night is just back to being quiet. Everything here is so sterile, just white walls and glass and metal and she can’t even feel his presence.

Maybe she’s just being weak and clingy.

She was alone for so long that she got quickly attached to him and maybe she didn’t think too much about the consequences. He’s still who he is and… maybe he deserves a second chance but this whole thing was moving too fast.

The sound of someone knocking on her door brings her back to reality. Daisy gets up to open.

It’s Grant.

“What are you doing here?”

“I was knocking on all the doors because I wasn’t sure which one was yours”

“That wasn’t my question…”

“I couldn’t get any sleep. I- I needed to talk to you”

Daisy stares at him for a second before she grabs his arm to pull him inside her room. Grant closes the door.

“I’m sorry” Daisy says first “This has been a long day, and a weird one…”

“I know. I just want to say that I get how much it means to you that Fitz and Simmons are here. I’ll do everything that I can to try to make things right, or at least stay away from them”

Daisy shakes her head. She’s not mad anymore, and seeing Grant like this in front of her makes thing seem a lot clearer “I don’t want you to stay away. I told you that if they didn’t like it they would just have to suck it up”

“They don’t have to forgive me for what I did”

“But I did. And I did it because I wanted to give us chance. That’s a decision that I made because I was done being miserable, and the last couple of days I felt like being alive was worth something. That was because of you”

Grant smiles and cups her face with his hand “Because of _us_ ” he corrects her while he strokes her cheek with his thumb lovingly.

Daisy can’t help but smile back “I want us” she grips Grant’s hoodie and then pulls him down for a kiss.

“Now that was a goodnight kiss” He says against her lips, hugging her tightly, practically dancing with her in his arms.

“Okay” Daisy pushes him back just enough to see his face “Now we’re good, but we still need to clear our heads and talk about what we’re going to do… tomorrow”

“Sounds great” but he just leans forward for another kiss, making Daisy laugh.

“Grant” she stops him again “I’m gonna tell them” she says and places her hands on his chest “the moment I see an opportunity; I will tell them. I’m done putting on an act just to please other people”

“They don’t need you to do that, they love you…. They hate _me_ , but they love you”

“And you?” Daisy raises an eyebrow at him, she can feel how his heart picks up pace against her hand, which makes her smile.

“Uh… you have known the answer to that question for a long time”

She bites her lip “Yeah, but I would like to hear it”

He leans forward again, this time getting close to her ear “I love you” he whispers and then she’s wrapping her arms around his neck, just hugging him.

They stay like that for a moment. “Thank you” She says “I mean, that’s not my answer to the I love you, it’s… just thank you, because you make things feel so much easier” then she pulls away “As for the real answer… I- I just have a ton of issues that-“

“It’s okay, that’s not the immediate problem that we have to face”

Daisy smiles. “See you tomorrow?”

Grant nods, he gives her a quick peck before he goes to open the door.

But Jemma is standing on the other side, looking down.

Both Daisy and Grant freeze in that moment.

“Jemma…” Daisy whispers but she still doesn’t move.

Simmons start to shake her head but still refuses to look Daisy in the eye “I suppose this was to be expected.

“Jemma, let me explain” Daisy insists.

“I don’t need you to explain anything” She says throwing a folder at Grant’s feet, then she turns around and starts walking.

Daisy follows her “Jemma, please!”

“Get the hell away from me!” She stops and yells at Daisy. “I don’t need you to explain your decisions to me, you’re and adult Daisy, you can do whatever you want” Jemma finally looks at her “It’s just not fair”

“What?”

"That Grant Ward got everything that he ever wanted. He hurt us, and he had that creepy obsession with you, but he hurt you the most; and then the world ended but here he is, when everyone else died! It’s not fair…” She starts walking again, but this time Daisy doesn’t follow her.

This is a mess. She’s shaking, and she feels bad. This wasn’t what she had in mind. When he looks back to her room Grant is standing on the doorframe, holding the folder that Simmons threw at him.

That’s when she feels him again. He’s more scared than anything that she has felt before.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just one chapter left! and I feel like I have to warn you that some shit will go down... I don't know if some of you are going to hate me forever, but I promise I have an awesome plan hahaha. You'll find out in a couple of days, meanwhile just let me know what you think, what you want.... your predictions, everything. Thank you guys for reading!


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Daisy and Grant have to confront Jemma, and they finally discover the truth about what she's hiding. Unfortunately, it's more dangerous than anything they had anticipated.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I tried really hard not to give anything away in the chapter summary... welcome to the last one! 
> 
> I... am sorry.
> 
> I did make a warning in the beginning.
> 
> Hehehehe

She sits on the bed, but at this point she’s mostly ignoring what he’s saying.

It’s not possible.

Well, it is.

It’s just…

She’s pregnant.

“Holy shit” she mutters.

“Daisy…” Grant says and she finally looks at him. “Are you okay?”

She’s not. She’s going to die… and that’s a thought that didn’t scare her a couple of weeks ago, but now she has her friends back. She has Grant.

She also has a baby.

Not yet, technically.

“We can’t do this” She shakes her head. “This is- I won’t survive it, and neither will he, not in this world”

Grant kneels down in front of her, still holding the folder with Daisy’s blood tests “We will do whatever you want to do”

“How?”

He looks down “I don’t know, but we will find a way”

Her hands are shaking; the bed might be shaking a little bit as well. She’s having a hard time getting a hold of it.

“I’m sorry”

Daisy shakes her head “We both did it” she swallows and tries to wipe her hands against her sweatpants “You know, it’s not like I never wanted it; but I never made long term plans, and I don’t know how- I mean, my own mother tried to kill me“

“What?”

“Long story. I just- it would have been a bad idea back when the world had not gone to shit, because how could I do it? And then I joined shield and it’s not like I ever planned to start a family. I chose to protect people. I thought that was going to be it, for the rest of my life”

Grant places his hand over the cast on her left arm “I never actually thought about it, I wasn’t really a big fan of kids I think, but I would be lying if I say that I didn’t imagine it, at least once, but only after I met you”

Daisy looks at him “What do you want to do?”

“I don’t think there’s anything we can do right now, but we could ask Simmons. We have the means to do whatever needs to be done here, and she can take care of you, she-“

“She’s probably freaking out more than us right now. You saw her”

“Then we need to find her. The cat is out of the bag”

Daisy sighs and leans forward, covering her face with her hand. “Damn it, Grant”

“It’s just been a couple of days, you don’t have to make any decisions yet” He moves his hand to her back and then rises from the floor to sit down next to her. “We will get there when we get there”

She sighs again and lifts her head “You’re right” she nods “You’re right. I need to talk to Jemma first. She has to understand” Daisy stands up, leaving Grant sitting on the bed looking at her.

“Shouldn’t we wait until she calms down?”

“No, no… I won’t waste any more time. It was stupid to lie to her in first place” than she raises her finger at him “And I know that it was my idea”

Now she can’t stop pacing.

“Or maybe you need to calm down a little”

That wasn’t a smart thing to say to her right now. She just gives him a very angry look. He stands up and then adds “Or we could go now”

 

* * *

 

 

She’s not in the quarters, or the cafeteria, not in the common rooms… or any of the labs in the first floor.

"We can’t take the elevator, but I did find a door. It’s sealed though,” Grant says.

“That’s not going to be a problem for me” Daisy says, she doesn’t even stop walking.

Grant takes her to the door to the staircase. “You sure?”

Daisy just raises her right hand and with one small push, she sends the door flying.

“Alright. That answers that” Grant says “Are you okay?” he asks when he hears her grunt in pain.

“Yeah” Daisy goes in first, and Grant follows her. It’s dark, and the stairs go several stories down. “Tell me you’re also smelling this”

“I am, and I’ m not completely sure that this is a good idea. We don’t even have a gun”

“We have a me, and if Jemma is down there is not like it’s going to be full of zombies”

Grant sighs.

He follows her down the staircase, it seemed to be some kind of emergency exit but it clearly has been just gathering dust for months. Daisy grabs the door handle but she can’t get it open.

“You shouldn’t be using your powers”

“Ward, please. Not now” then she quakes the panel under the handle until it opens. She pushes the door carefully, trying to peek inside. It doesn’t seem a lot different than the upper floor.

There are several rooms sealed with plastic covers, and inside of them they can see boxes and cages but they all are empty.

Some other rooms have just lab equipment or suits, showers; but then it gets creepy. There are jars that contains all kinds of limbs and tissue, organs and different material that Daisy doesn’t even want to know where they came from.

A couple of doors are closed, and she doesn’t get curious, but Grant stops. She sees him touching a mark on one of the wooden doors, like finger nails.

Then there’s one last door, it’s the smallest one and it’s more like a passage with a sign that reads Quarantine Lab.

But the door is half open, and the shower system behind the door doesn’t seem like it has been used in a long time.

Daisy slides the door and walks through the small corridor with Grant behind her. She moves aside a couple of plastic curtains only to find another door like the previous one, but completely open.

And in the back of the room, there’s Simmons standing next to a control panel.

“Jemma”

“Didn’t you read the sign? It’s a quarantine lab”

“You’re not wearing any protection” Daisy continues while Grant walks next to her. They both approach her slowly.

“Well, you shouldn’t be here” Simmons adds and then places her hand next to the control panel. “You shouldn’t have brought this man in here”

“I already explained it to you”

“You told me that he saved your life, not that you were shagging him”

Daisy stops “Well, maybe let me talk-“

“No, no, no… I don’t want to hear the details”

And the, before Daisy can speak again they hear a loud thud, and something that sounds like a grunt. Close to the panel next to Jemma, there’s another another door.

“What was that?” Grant finally speaks, he instinctively moves in front of Daisy.

Jemma ignores him “You know what he did to us. Even if he is the last man in the world, he’s still Grant Ward. It’s nor fair”

“I’m not- this is a decision that I made, because I wanted it”

“It’s not fair” Jemma keeps repeating.

“I know that you’ll understand why I chose to move on and give us a chance”

“Wait” Grant mutters after he scans the lab.

“It’s not fair”

“What’s not fair?”

“That he gets to live” Simmons sobs.

“Where’s Fitz…” Grant turns around to look at Daisy.

Daisy looks at the door in the room when they hear another thud. “Who’s in there?”

Simmons is still sobbing, looking down, whispering something that Daisy can’t quite hear and shaking her head.

That’s when Grant starts pushing Daisy back.

“I’m going to make it right. I’m going to make it fair”

“Simmons no!” Daisy yells but then Simmons hits the control panel with her fist and the door slides open.

A body tumbles out of it. Pale, feral, all the expression and color in his eyes gone and he has started to lose hair and teeth. He doesn’t have half of his arm. He has old blood stains on his lab coat where it was chopped off, and also on his mouth and face, but Daisy and Grant still recognize him the moment they see him.

“What the-“ Grant starts but he freezes.

The zombified Fitz looks disoriented and hungry as it runs straight against a shelf and then pauses.

Pretty much everything after that happens in slow motion. Daisy sees the look on Jemma’s face. It’s pure fear and regret. She just looks so broken, maybe about seeing the one person that meant the world to her like this, or maybe because of what she just did, but in a second she starts looking around, trying to find something.

But Fitz has already turned to face them, grunting like an animal.

“Oh no. Oh no… Daisy” Jemma mutters.

“Run” Grant keeps pushing her back.

And then Jemma yells “NO! FITZ!!! LOOK AT ME!!” She starts hitting one of the metallic walls with her hand, making enough sound to catch the attention of her dead partner “LEAVE HER ALONE!”

And he attacks. He’s still strong enough to tackle Jemma to the ground.

She sees it all over again. The base, the people that she loved dying.

Grant has already jumped into action mode and he ran to grab a chair, but Daisy can’t wait for that. She has two people left in the world, and she can’t see them die.

She can’t.

She runs.

It’s a funny feeling, the skin of those things gets all squishy after some time, like you could just rip it off with your hands. It’s disgusting. She tries to grab him by his shoulders to pull him off Jemma.

It’s- it used to be Fitz.

Fitz is dead.

Jemma managed to put her hands on his neck and avoid being bitten, but Daisy is not having much with her injured arm and he… _it,_ just decides to go for a new prey. He darts towards Daisy, throwing her of her balance until she can place her hand against his chest and quake him, just enough to get him off her.

It still hurts a lot.

“Daisy!” Grant yells, he has a chair and he wastes no time hitting the dead Fitz with it, hard enough to push him across the room, but it quickly recovers and tries to attack Grant.

But Jemma is fast enough to hit him hard in the head with a microscope.

“Simmons…” Ward looks at her when the body hits the ground.

She’s shaking, visibly affected and she looks like she’s about to start to cry “Please do it. Please”

Grant just nods “It’s okay”

Jemma closes her eyes and then Grant kicks him hard enough, until they hear a crack.

Daisy just has to look away. Then she gets up, but it’s not until she sees Grant and Jemma looking down in terror that she feels the sting.

She raises her hand to see the mark of a bite on the side of her hand.

“Oh shit” Daisy looks at them.

Grant can’t even move, or say anything. He’s frozen in his spot.

Jemma is the first to speak “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry”

“Jemma…” Daisy starts; her voice breaks a little when she speaks. She grabs her own wrist to hold her hand in place, her first instinct is to try to cut the blood flow.

Then Grant moves, he probably had the same thought, as he runs to grab a lab coat hanging nearby. He tears a piece of fabric and then tries to clean Daisy’s wound with it. He’s shaking when he wraps it tightly, but he still can’t say a word.

The look Daisy sees in his eyes is complete devastation. He’s lost. When they touch it sends a chill down her spine. They both know it.

“Grant, it’s okay” Daisy whispers and she can see tears in his eyes the same way she feels hers.

Grant shakes his head “It’s not” then he turns to Jemma “You have to do something!”

“I- I- yes…”

“Fix this” Grant insists “You have to fix this, what can we do?”

He doesn’t sound angry. He sounds desperate, like he’s beging.

Jemma seems to snap back into reality, Daisy still recognizes when the gears start working inside her friend’s head. She’s still a genius, this is what she does best.

“It’s okay, calm down first” Daisy grabs Grant’s arm to make him look at her.

“I can’t calm down!”

Simmons starts murmuring something, trying to catch her breath and focus. “Bring her up stairs.

Grant nods and then he takes Daisy’s hand.

“Wait!” She protests, she doesn’t want to leave Jemma here with the dead Fitz, but the scientist seems more focused on searching for something.

It is starting to sting really bad.

 

* * *

 

 

Grant takes Daisy to a room like an OR in the medical area.

“Grant”

“Lay down”

“Grant! Look at me” Daisy insists when he starts pacing inside the room. “You know what needs to be done”

“No. Not yet. She’s a genius, she can fix it”

“You have to promise me-“

“No. No. Shut up” He says, looking up to the ceiling, trying to avoid her eyes.

“Grant please” her voice cracks again “I love you”

He closes his eyes “Don’t say that”

“I’m sorry. I love you. You have to take care of Jemma. Please don’t take it against her”

“You’re not going to die!” He finally looks at her.

He’s devastated, and Daisy knows the feeling all too well. She knows how it feels like to lose everything.

“I can’t watch you die” He continues, walking next to her, close enough for Daisy to reach for his hand.

“I love you” She says again and then places her hand on the back of his neck. Grant leans down until their foreheads touch “I’m happy we got a few days”

“I love you” He closes his eyes and moves his hands to her hips.

They separate when Jemma clears her throat. She has a big, metallic case. “Please lay down”

Daisy just nods and follows her instructions.

“Does it sting?” Jemma asks and Daisy nods before making her next question.

“How long is it going to take?”

“It depends on how close the wound is to the brain” Jemma replies.

“You said you were working on a cure!”

“Not a cure, a vaccine that can stop the contagion” She explains and then opens the case that she placed on the bed. Her tone is calm, focused, but her hands are still giving away her real emotions.

 Inside the case there are a five vials with color-coded lids on top and different tags with notes on them. Jemma takes a device, like a small pistol with a big needle in the end.

“This is not a cure, we really don’t-“

“Just try it! Try everything…” Grant insists.

Jemma takes one of the vials and then loads it into the device “How are you feeling?”

“Sleepy, my hand is a bit numb”

Then Jemma places her hand on Daisy’s forehead “You’re getting hot”

“There’s no time for a check up,” Grant mumbles.

Jemma sighs, “I’m sorry” She hesitates before injecting Daisy, but then she grabs Jemma’s wrist to steady her.

The needle doesn’t hurt as much as the liquid inside the vial. It feels like a burn, like she just stuck her whole arm in a fire. “Shit” Daisy grunts and starts shifting in the bed “Is that normal?” 

Grant stands next to her and places his hand on her arm.

Simmons swallows “It is, I just don’t know how it’s supposed to feel after you get the bite, we never tested-”

Daisy grits her teeth and curses a little louder, to the point that Grant has to keep her still, he looks at Jemma with a confused expression on his face.

“What does it do?”

“It’s supposed to attack the virus, but before you contract it”

“She’s in pain!”

“Yes. She is, could you please let me work?”

“Grant” Daisy whimpers, he can only stand by her side, trying to keep her still.

“It’s okay,” He tells her, caressing the top of her head.

“It’s not over. It’s going to hurt, but I’ll try other things okay?”

“Can you just chop off my arm?” Daisy mutters, breathing heavily and trying to keep her voice sill but she fails.

“It doesn’t work like that. The infections spreads quickly through the bloodstream” She says as she loads a second vial “We could cut the whole arms and there’s still no guarantee-“

“FUCK” Daisy yells in pain.

“There’s no time”

“But that could save her?” Grant asks, now grabbing Daisy by her shoulders.

“I’m not doing that, I know it’s not going to save her!”

The second injection goes into her and by that time, Daisy feels like she might pass out from the pain.

“How do you know?”

“I know!I had to do it before and I know that it doesn’t work!”

“Grant…” Daisy groans, grabbing his arm, that makes him focus on her “I trust her, let- let her…. P-please”

He nods and then looks at Jemma. “How do we know if it’s working?”

“We will have to wait”

Daisy yells again, this time the room shakes a little, and Grant goes back to held her in place.

“Hold on” He says “You can do this, okay? You can do this”

 

* * *

 

Two hours later Grant is sitting right next to Daisy. They have felt small tremors consistently shaking the lab, but she seems to be stable. Jemma is monitoring her vitals and checking her brain activity, which aside from a few strange peaks seems to be normal.

She’s also taking samples, going out and then back inside, which is making him anxious.

They haven’t spoken a word.

She looks at Grant when she comes back to check on her wound and clean it again. She’s been constantly removing dead tissue that seems to be peeling off Daisy’s hand “Are you waiting to see what happens with her?”

Grant stares back at her “To do what exactly?”

“To kill me. There are at least 20 things in this room that you can use as a weapon, but you don’t have to. I’m not going to put on a fight”

“What are you even talking about?”

“If she dies I’m not of any use to you, and this was my fault” She looks at him “I did this to her, and as twisted as it can be you do love her. I don’t doubt that” then she stops, as if she’s trying to find the right words and stop her voice from cracking “if Daisy dies it’s going to be my fault. I know how you deal with that kind of situation”

“It’s not what she would have wanted”

“But it _was_ my fault”

It’s almost like she’s begging him to kill her.

“Yeah, it was your damn fault! But Daisy loves you, you’re her family and…. As hard as it’s to believe I have never wanted to hurt you. I wasn’t lying about that. I did hurt you but just because I was trying to do what I could to save you…and Fitz, like you’re doing right now with Daisy, even after you fucked up in a big way”

Jemma looks down “But if she-“

“Then killing you is not going to bring her back to me, is it?”

Her eyes meet his again “You saw the blood tests”

“We saw them”

“It’s not just her. I ruined. I can’t live with it” Then she looks back at Daisy. “I can’t do this” 

“Neither can I, but we have to. She wanted us to live, and we’re going to be here because she has to make it out of this, and then we will figure out what comes next”

“There’s no cure, Ward. If you get it- I don’t know if this is just slowing it down, making it more painful. There’s nothing different about Daisy-“

Then she stops. She stares at Ward.

Grant might not be a genius scientist but they both know that there’s something different about Daisy.

She’s an Inhuman.

And she has regenerative Kree blood in her system.

It might actually work.

“I need more blood samples and help me get this place ready for a procedure”

Grant nods and get up from his chair to help her.

It’s a bit odd, working like this with Simmons, but it’s true that he doesn’t want to tae it against her, not after everything, not after Daisy taught him that even a man like him could have a second chance.

And the only thing that matters right now is saving Daisy’s life.

So he helps Jemma work, does what she asks.

He only refuses to leave Daisy’s side when Jemma takes more blood and tissue to analyze it.

 

* * *

 

When Daisy wakes up she feels like she’s paralyzed.  Her muscles are numb and she doesn’t even know for how long she was out.

But Grant and Jemma are there, sitting on each side of the bed.

He looks tired, but he smiles at her.

“Daisy?” He asks in a hoarse voice.

Daisy looks at Jemma. It’s a bit disorienting, because she’s starting to remember. She got bitten, she should be dead.

Also she’s really fucking cold.

“What happened?” She mumbles but she barely hears her voice, she’s not sure if they did.

Jemma brings another blanket and covers her with it but still doesn’t dare to get to close, or touch her. It’s not like she’s afraid or anything. She’s ashamed and feeling guilty. Daisy knows her.

“It’s okay. You’re ok” Grant says and places one hand over her middle.

“You’re going to experience some secondary effects, but you’re going to be fine. I promise” Jemma’s eyes start to ill with tears as she speaks.

“Fine? How long have I’ve been here?”

“Almost 55 hours” Jemma adds.

“How am I not dead?”

“You beat it” Grant says

“With your Inhuman DNA and the components of Kree blood found in it our vaccine worked as an antiviral agent. Your body practically fought it on its own” She swallows “I had to perform a few procedures, remove a bit of your skin, but the infection is completely gone by now”

“Is that the cure?”

“Oh” Jemma looks at Grant and then down at Daisy again “We’re still a long way from that. Your DNA is more complex than a regular human, there’s a lot of calculations and changes in the formula that need to be made; but it’s a possibility”

Daisy nods “But I’m cured, right? I’m not going to die…”

“No”

“And what about…my… uhm-“

Jemma’s expression softens “It shouldn’t be a problem. If you decide to carry your pregnancy to term, you can”

Daisy turns to Grant with a smile on her face, but before she can say anything Jemma speaks again.

“I’m sorry”

Daisy looks at Jemma again and shakes her head “We need to talk about what happened down there, you know?”

“Yes. I’m really sorry. I would never hurt you, I don’t know what came to me I-“

“Jemma”

“I understand if you want to leave” She continues “We have a quinjet with just enough fuel to get you two to Alaska. We knew about a growing community there, and when you recover-”

“Jemma” Daisy finally manages to move her arm and grab Jemma’s arm with her hand, now wrapped in a bandage. “I’m not going anywhere without you, okay? I forgive you. I don’t care, and I want you to forget about it; but that’s not what I wanted to talk about”

“I should have been me. The vaccine was not ready” She sobs “He actually volunteered, he asked us to let it happen so we could study what went wrong”

“Was that before everyone left?” Grant finally asks and Jemma nods.

“But when they did, I couldn’t just leave him”

“He’s gone now” Daisy says.

“I know. It just took some time for me to accept it. I felt like I was going crazy. I’m really sorry. I only want you to be happy. I know that you’re happy now, Daisy”

“And a big part of that is because I found you. I know that it sucks. I know how it hurts to lose the people that you love, and it’s probably not enough, but I’m never going to leave you”

Jemma is still crying, but there’s a hint of smile on her face “It’s more than enough” then she leans forward to kiss Daisy on her forehead “I’m sorry”

“Let’s just leave in in the past, like the rest of the bad things”

Jemma sighs and then looks at them. Grant has not moved an inch from his position next to Daisy “Let’s do that” she tries to smile again, but it’s going to take some time for her “And… maybe I should give you a minute. I’m- I’m fine and you probably have things to discuss”

“Thanks” Daisy says.

Jemma places her hand back on the bed carefully and then she leaves.

Daisy closes her eyes and, taking a deep breath, she tries to stretch but it’s still proving difficult. “I feel like shit”

Grant chuckles “Take it easy”

“Jemma didn’t give you the murder glare, like not even once. Did you see that?” She clears her throat.

“Do you need water?” He asks and Daisy nods. He takes a bottle that he had and then helps her move until she’s more in a seating position. He also helps her take a small sip from the bottle.

“Did you just become best friends with Simmons while I was sleeping?”

“Let’s say we had other priorities”

"Thank you” She reaches for his hand and makes him look at her when she squeezes his fingers.

“For what?”

“For trying to make things right? She… well, she did some stuff but she wasn’t in her right mind. No one can be in this world, not after what happened to Fitz-“

“I’m sorry about that”

She swallows “He was a good guy. He was like a brother to me, but now I’m grateful. I few weeks ago I was ready to die, and now that I almost did… I’m happy that I’m back and that I get to see your stupid face again, and that I have Jemma and… that we could try to have a future” 

Grant looks down at her belly, he moves his hand to place her over the blankets that are still covering her “Do you want that?”

Daisy nods “Is it stupid?”

“No. I mean, it’s us… It was never going to be easy”

Daisy’s lips curve up a bit. It’s sad, but it’s still a smile. She just lost another member of her family, but she also got a new one. She could have a family of her own, even in this fucked up world.

Maybe there’s hope. Maybe Jemma can modify the cure, and maybe they can find that place in Alaska.

And maybe, just maybe, they can have a baby and be happy.

They made it this far after all.

“I want to try”

Grant smiles and then leans forward to kiss her softly “I died for a second when I thought I was going to lose you. This was the second time; you know?” he whispers.

“Don’t worry. You’re never getting rid of me now”

“I love you, Daisy”

“And… I love you, and this time I'm not just saying it because I'm pretty sure that I'm going to die”

They finally separate but Grant is still leaning close to her “You saved me, and you saved Jemma. Now you’re probably going to be the key to save the world”

“Let’s not get our hopes up just yet?”

“They’re up”

Daisy smiles “Only time will tell”

 

* * *

 

**5 YEARS LATER**

 

It’s a really nice Summer. The sun is seeping through her window and she’s so tired – but the good kind of tired- or more like worn out.

Suddenly, she feels warm and strong arms embrace her naked body from behind. It never fails to bring a smile to her face.

“Date night went well” He says in a teasing voice, leaning down to place a kiss on her shoulder.

Daisy sighs and then stretches in his arms. He’s shamelessly feeling her up right now and Daisy doesn’t want to complain.

It’s been 5 years but she just can’t have enough of this man.

“Yeah… and it’s still going well as far as I can tell”

“You’re irresistible in the mornings”

Daisy chuckles, she blatantly presses her ass against his groin. “Then do something about it, honey”

“Uhm… you do remember Jemma is coming for breakfast, right?”

She turns around. She knows that he’s going to get sidetracked with the sigh of her boobs, and she’s always right when it comes to Grant’s most basic instincts.

“I know. I told her… but it’s still pretty early”

He clears his throat and then, with no small effort, looks up to meet her eyes “You also have an important meeting this morning”

Daisy complaints “Look, you can keep teasing me like that, or we can cut the crap and have really quick morning sex before Jemma is here, which one do you prefer?”

Grant’s smile widens. He doesn’t answer, he just pushes her back into the bed until he’s on top of her.

 

* * *

 

 

It’s actually quick, but it got the job done. Less than 20 minutes later they’re wearing something decent and making breakfast together in their kitchen.

“You sure you don’t need to get ready?”

“I still have time” Daisy says as she takes a bottle of milk from the fridge.

“It’s important”

She rolls her eyes.

“Someone has to be a responsible adult in this house, you know?”

“Aw… who’s turning forty soon?” She teases and approaches him.

“That’s really funny”

“It’s not… it’s hot” then she leans against the counter right next to him and takes one strawberry from his plate before she puts it in her mouth “The whole thing; the little grey hairs, the lumberjack look… that stay-at-home dad vibe” she says, while Grant is smiling and shaking his head “It does it for me”

“Then I might chop off some wood in the afternoon and then play soccer with Leo”

Daisy bites her lip “You think Jemma can babysit for us tonight again?”

And speaking of the devil… that’s when they hear her knocking on their door.

Daisy gets it and the first thing through the door is a small boy that jumps into her arms.

“Mom!”

“Hey!! Good morning sweetheart, did you have a good time with auntie Jemma?” She says and then smiles at her “Come in”

She carries her son to the kitchen, where Grant is waiting.

“Hey kid! You hungry?” Grant ask “Hey Jemma”

“I think that we might have a little genius here” Jemma says as she sits on the kitchen table. “Leo, can you tell your mom what’s in the water that we drink?”

“Oxygen and Hydrogen” He repeats, still in Daisy’s arms. She places him on the counter next to grant.

“That’s great!” Daisy smiles “You’re so smart and handsome” then she attacks him with kisses.

“So… how did date night go?” Jemma asks.

“You know, boring… the married life” Daisy jokes while Grant starts feeding their child.

“Oh, I see. Because someone was just asking for a brother, and if somebody is going to repopulate the earth it’s probably going to be the two of you”

“Am I getting a brother?” Leo asks his dad excitedly.

Grant just looks at Daisy “Uhm… maybe one day”

Daisy smiles at him “Well, if all goes well with Steve, I’m going to be hanging the gauntlets pretty soon, at least for a while. We’re winning now, we’re taking back the south. Maybe we’ll even be able to come back home pretty soon; but right now I just want to spend more time with my guys. Steve wants to leave a backup team here, protecting the settlements and in case something goes wrong. That’s perfect for me”

Then Grant leans to give her a kiss on the cheek.

“You already did more than enough… the most beautiful superhero in the new world”

Daisy can’t help but blush and smile like an idiot.

Jemma smiles at the happy family, they are also her family. “Well, I would feel a lot safer with Quake taking care of us right here”

“Quake!” Leo repeats, making his parents laugh.

Daisy brings him to the table to sit with Jemma while they finish making breakfast. She’s happy now, like she never was before; and they all lost a lot, and the world almost ended, but they took it back. They went through hell and fought for years.

But for this very moment, she knows that it was all worth it.

 

\---

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So... this one is longer, but I wanted to wrap it up in 8 chapters. 
> 
> What did you guys think? I mean, have you ever read something so terrible and fluffy at the same time? hahaha I knew that I wanted to end it like this from the moment I came up with the idea, I just wasn't sure about what to do with Fitz but I decided to go with it because it's the zombie apocalypse, bad shit happens. 
> 
> It's over now. I loved this story. I wanted a zombie AU for so long and I'm so happy I decided to write it myself, and even more happy that you guys read it!! please, please leave your feedback, and I hope to see you here for the next one... at some point, when I get a new idea hahaha.
> 
> Bye!

**Author's Note:**

> So that's the first one!!! I hope you enjoyed. We're not going on the road just yet but it' coming. We need to get these two to trust each other again right? Let me know your thoughts. It's less angsty and more fun as it progresses...


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